Persona 5
by ProjectSonizard
Summary: Twins, Ryo and Aimi are orphans and are moving to a new town out of their orphanage to go to a private highschool. Soon they get wrapped up in matters no teenagers should ever get involved with... My first *official* story, criticism welcome!
1. Chapter 1 A Cold Night in Chichibu

_Hi! I'm ProjectSonizard! I'm a bit new here so please don't be as harsh, but helpful criticism is welcomed. Now I did try and right a Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfic before... But it really didn't go all that well and honestly I couldn't think where I could go. So here I am about a year later trying again. This time I chose Persona rather than Yu-Gi-Oh! because I just recently got into it like a few months ago and the way the games are set up, there is just so much fanfic material to work with. (Also, I am by no means Japanese and know very little about their culture so if I use wrong names or some information is wrong just tell me and I'll fix it... Hopefully...)_

_Well I hope you enjoy, this is my take on what I hope will happen in Persona 5!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 1 – A Cold Night in Chichibu<strong>

**February 3, 2018 - Thursday [Chichibu Station, Late Night]**

The air was cold, a full moon shining above on a clear night. The station was silent, nothing but the chirps of crickets in the distant. As the night drew on, close to midnight, a rumble grew from deep within the tunnel. Soon, a large bullet train stopped. The doors slid open, and out came two teenagers. One was male with brown hair hidden beneath a backwards baseball cap; he wore an open black jacket with a white t-shirt underneath and a pair of blue jeans. The female had short, brown hair as well that had a pink hair clip in it, and was half a foot shorter than the male; she wore a black sweater with a white blouse underneath and she had a black skirt and knee high stockings on. They both had large backpacks and duffle bags, but the male was enveloped in his hand-held PSV gaming system.

"Jeez, what a pain…" The young woman complained. "Why couldn't we just stay at the home?"

The other simply ignored the remark and continued to play his games with earphones attached.

"You could at least answer…"

_*Ding-Dong*_ A recorded voice came over the intercom. "The train will now be leaving for Iwatodai Station. Please all riders enter the train now."

"I guess that's our cue to leave…" As soon as the young woman said that, the young man began walking toward the exit gate. "Oh, so you were listening!" She huffed off after.

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><p>About two hours later, the duo arrived at an apartment complex. The rooms were ratty and probably not sanitary, but cheap at least.<p>

The young woman walked to the clerk at the counter. "Hello, sorry for us being so late, but we arranged a room to stay at while we study abroad."

"Ah, you're the two kids my boss made me stay up late for. 'Kay well, names please?" The clerk asked.

"Aimi Fujihara, and this is my brother Ryo Fujihara" She pointed to the slightly taller brother.

Ryo glanced at the clerk for a second, "…Hello" His eyes then receded back to the glowing screen of his PSV.

"Huh… Okay well follow me, I'll show you to your room." The clerk guided the siblings to a small room on the second floor if the building. When he left, the two sat in darkness.

"Well… He said we wouldn't have electricity, cable, or water until we started paying…" Aimi began, but her brother only continued to play his game. "*Sigh* Well it's pretty late I' going to bed…"

"'Night." Ryo quickly said without looking up. Aimi was startled for a second hearing the voice of her brother.

"…Yeah, you too…" Aimi smiled and quickly went into a vacant room.

Ryo finally looked away and shut off his PSV. He went into the other vacant and slept on a small bed in there. As he lay down he could feel his eyes getting heavier and heavier until finally he drifted into the warm darkness of sleep.

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><p>Ryo woke in a velvet blue room, with him already in a chair. The walls had hundreds of TV's on them and in front of him was a businessman's desk, an old, balding man with an extremely large nose sitting in it. He wore a wrinkled black suit with a withered white flower on it. Behind him were three windows showing a dark city with flashing lights and advertisements Ryo couldn't quite make out, there was also a heavy downpour outside that seemed it would never let up.<p>

Suddenly, the windows changed its picture to the old man as he extended his arms outward. "Welcome to the Velvet Room!" Was all he said.

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><p><em>Sorry for the small chapter... I had more but I'm still tweaking it and trying not to make Igor sound too much like the games.<em>


	2. Chapter 2 The Velvet Room

_Hi! ProjectSonizard here again. This time I made sure to make this chapter way bigger. I'm sorta glad and mad that I got no reviews for the last chapter. Well not glad, more relieved. Anyways, here's the next chapter. Again, all criticizim is welcome, and make sure to tell me if my writing skills are bad, I'm kinda still in school, and I don't plan on majoring in English._

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><p><strong>Chapter 2 – The Velvet Room<strong>

**February 3, 2018 - Thursday [The Velvet Room, Late Night]**

"My name is Igor, and I shall aid you in your quest to find life's fulfillment!" The long-nosed man said.

"Wh-what's going on?" Ryo asked in shock as he looked around the room.

"Do not worry; you are the newest guest of the Velvet Room. This place resides between dreams and reality, mind and matter. Only those who are bound by a certain contract may. Now please sign your name here…" Igor waved his hand and all of a sudden a piece of paper with nothing on it except "Please fulfill your destiny." and a signature line.

Ryo blinked, "And what forces me to sign this?"

"Nothing of course. You may sign the contract on your own accord. But remember, the other person who has sign this may be in grave danger. What is about to happen in your life will change your perspectives on all things, and you will find that bonds with other people than just yourself is your greatest asset. Yes, you have a very intriguing destiny…" Igor continued on.

"W-Who was the other person that signed this?" Ryo asked.

"Why, that is information I may not disclose, but that person's heart and your very own may be linked, forever intertwined. Now, how about a little fortune telling to… Lighten up the mood?" Igor states with a wild grin.

Ryo couldn't help but feel uneasy. Although, something in his mind told him that this old man wasn't going to harm him. Igor wave his hand and a deck of cards appeared be for him.

"Now… Let us see what the wheel of fate has in store for you!" Igor one again waved his hand and the cards split apart only leaving two on the table laid out. Igor flipped the first one to reveal a card with the number zero on it. It showed a man holding a stick with a bag on it being chased by a dog. "Ah, The Fool, in the downward position. This card represents a new beginning whether or not it may be good…" With that he flipped the second card revealing it to have the number twenty in roman numerals and it was shown with an angel blowing into a horn. "Oh! The Judgment, in the upward position! This is a spectacle indeed. This card represents a divine intervention of some sorts that may or may not lead to a life changing event…"

Igor sat, still with the grin on his face, now just staring straight at Ryo. Ryo couldn't help but feel like he was being forced to sign the contract, _"I mean, what does 'Please fulfill your destiny.' even mean!"_ He thought. Ryo cleared his throat. "…Okay, I'll sign the stupid contract…" He grabbed the contract from mid air and took the inked quill. He quickly scribbled something that looked like his name and let it rise again.

Igor waved his hand to draw the contract closer. He quickly scanned it and grinned wildly. "Very well, just remember that from now on you must take responsibilities for your own actions. Now farewell my new acquaintance, we will meet again once again…"

With that, Ryo felt sleepy and everything went black.

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><p><strong>February 4, 2018 - Friday [Fujihara Apartment, Early Morning]<strong>

When Ryo woke up, he was back in the room that he arrived in the night before. The Velvet Room was gone, no screen showing a dark city, no long-nosed man sitting talking cryptically, and no blue tint in the room. Ryo felt like he had a terrible nightmare and was breathing heavily. He quickly got up and walked out of his room. Everything was the same as when they arrived.

Aimi was sitting at the small table by the kitchen sipping coffee. She looked up and saw her brother sweating profusely. "Wow, you look terrible bro! A-Are you okay?" Aimi asked with concern.

"Yeh… I think…" Ryo answered and went into the bathroom. Right after locking the closed door, he vomited violently into the toilet.

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><p><strong>February 4, 2018 - Friday [Jundo Street, Morning]<strong>

For the rest of the morning, the twins got ready to go to school. Now they were on their way to their new school, Chichibu Highschool for Advanced Scholars, or just shorted to CHAS. Ryo was still sick but was well enough to go to school.

"Bro? Are… Are you sure you're okay?" Aimi asked.

Ryo didn't look up from his PSV, "Yeh, I'm fine." As they continued to walk they eventually got to the front gate of CHAS. This school was extremely large and had four floors. Supposedly there are many activities held daily and that most famous people attended this high school growing up.

Famous people like Etsuko Ueda, the now richest person in the world. He single-handedly bought out almost all major companies in Japan with his corporate giant, Atarashi Taiyo no Tochi, or ATT. What ATT does is that it supplies fund to many research facilities for human health and interest, it also donates a lot of money to orphanages and schools, like CHAS. Not much is known about what else ATT does other than donations, but some people say that it links back to its beginnings with medical science and engineering, but some rumors say ATT is involved with the occult.

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><p>Ryo and Aimi walked into the school and went straight to the principal's office. Principle Ito was sitting at his desk writing something very intensely. He had a vein popping out of his forehead and was cursing under his breath. Ryo was about to walk up, but the stout man looked a bit too intimidating for him to confront. After five minutes of waiting, Aimi finally took it upon herself to talk to the principle.<p>

"Um… Excuse me?"Aimi asked.

"WHAT! I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU DAMN RETA-" Mr. Ito looked up and saw the scared face of Aimi. He was shocked to see her, and cleared his throat and cursed under his breath once again. "M-My apologizes, I've had a rough morning. Anyways, what have you…" Mr. Ito noticed Ryo playing his PSV. "…Two come to talk about?"

"Well… Um, I'm Aimi Fujihara and this is my brother, Ryo Fujihara."Aimi pointed to Ryo, and he looked up at Mr. Ito and nodded his head. "We're new students that…"

Mr. Ito was shuffling through his papers and found one that said the twin's name. "Ah! The Fujihara twins! Very bright I hear. And you're from the Utsukushi Hana Orphanage, correct?"

"That's us!" Aimi replied happily.

"Okay good… Second years… Straight A's… Perfect attendence… Ah! Okay… You two are assigned to homeroom 2-C." Mr. Ito said with a grin.

"Great! Bro, we're in the same homeroom this year!" Aimi looked at her brother in excitement, but Ryo barely took notice. Aimi had a disappointed face and then smiled at Mr. Ito. "Thank you sooooo much Mr. Ito!"

"Oh no worries, just think of that as a gift from us for being such good students!" Mr. Ito winked at Aimi. "Oh, and Mr. Fujihara. Gaming systems are banned on school grounds."

"Sorry" Ryo replied, powered down his PSV, and left the room. From there, Aimi and Ryo walked up a flight of stairs and walked down a very large hallway until they found the room with '2-C' written on it. The only thing they could think of was how large this school was. Every hallway was clean and brightly lit, and there were all kinds of classrooms and club rooms, almost completely empty. Ryo slid open the door and the twins walked in.

Like the rest of the school, the class room was large and crowded. It looked as if there were many students of different races in the class. The class was loud, as to be expected in the morning. The twins walked up to the teacher organizing her papers at the front of class. The teacher had black hair extending down to her hips and a blue jacket on, and she also wore red glasses.

"Um… Hello…" Aimi greeted shyly.

"Hm? Oh you two! Yes, yes… My name is Ms. Shimizu, your homeroom teacher, nice to meet you!" Ms. Shimizu stood up and siled at the two. "OI! SHUT UP!" With her call, the students immediately quieted down and looked at their teacher. "Ahem… Everyone we have two new students. Twins, Aimi Fujihara and Ryo Fujihara. Now everyone please be polite and give them a big Class 2-C welcome!"

All the students simultaneously stood up and bowed. "Welcome to Class 2-C, we hope you find yourselves at home." They all said.

"Great!... Now seating… Umm how about next to Michio!" Ms. Shimizu pointed to a young man that was sitting at his desk reading. He wore silver glasses and had his school uniform on properly with a tie and everything. He had silver hair, gray eyes, and an expression that showed he was deep in his book, so deep that he didn't notice the twins walking up to the empty desks next to him.

As the twins sat down, Ryo coughed a bit.

"Excuse me, I am trying to read." Michio looked at Ryo with a death stare.

_"Why does he care about my cough when there's all this noise around him?" _Ryo thought. "Sorry" Was all Ryo really said.

Michio scoffed and continued to read. At that moment a burly looking teen came running into the classroom right up to Michio. He had dark hair and was growing a five-o-clock shadow. Like Michio he wore his uniform properly. "Michio-sensei! You'll never believe what happened on my way to school!" The burly teen shouted.

Michio's eyes softened and he smiled. "What happened?"

"Well you see-"_*Ding-Dong*_ The teen was cut off by the first bell.

"Hey, tell me after class, okay?" Michio said as he put his book down.

"'Kay!" The burly teen looked very excited and he took the seat next to Michio's.

"Alrighty class…" Ms. Shimizu began, but Ryo wasn't focusing on her, he looked down at a blank piece of paper he took out, and then he looked out the window. Aimi wasn't paying attention either, she was looking at Ryo, who didn't notice her, and was wondering if things were going to get a bit better than they were at the orphanage. All Ryo knew was that today was going to be a long day.

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><p><em>Also, can anyone tell me if there is an easier way to edit published chapters? I don't want to keep removing chapters just to change a tiny bit of wording.<em>


	3. Chapter 3 The Golden Heart Hunters

_Hi guys! ProjectSonizard here again. Thanks for the positive reviews, I'm actually suprised that I got to 3 chapters. This one's a bit bigger than two but I gotta ask, should I write it more like Personas 3 & 4 with social links and more character development, or like Personas 1 & 2 with a more linear plot and more action and dungeon crawling? I'll be answering any questions at the bottom of chapters._

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><p><strong>Chapter 3 – The Golden Heart Hunters<strong>

**February 14, 2018 - Friday [Classroom 2-C, Lunch Time]**

The school day was nearly over. Ryo put his books away and got up, and Aimi was doing the same. Ryo was about to leave Aimi behind when a short and skinny girl with short, black hair walked up to him.

"Hello! My name is Hikari Imai, nice to meet you!" Hikari grinned. Her face was plain and she had huge dimples on her face. Her hand was outstretched and she appeared to want a handshake.

Ryo was confused. "…Hi…" He replied to the girl. Ryo weakly raised his hand and gave her a quick handshake.

"I wanted to personally welcome you to Chichibu Highschool for Advanced Scholars!" Hikari said overly joyful.

Ryo checked around the room. Everyone already left the room except for him, Hikari, and Aimi who still packing up. "Umm… Are you from some kind of club?" Ryo asked bluntly.

"What! No, no… I'm just being friendly that's all! I wanted to ask if you and your sister would like to come with me, Michio, and Takeo lunch!" Hikari said.

"What's up?" Aimi came over and asked.

"Oh! Your Aimi, right?" Hikari smiled wider.

Aimi hesitated. "Yeh… And this is-"

"Ryo! He and I were just getting acquainted." Hikari said to cut Aimi off. "I was going to ask you two if you wanted to come to lunch with us."

"I'd love to!" Aimi replied happily. "How about you, bro?"

"…I got homework…" Ryo weakly stated.

"C'mon it'll be fun!" Aimi pleaded. She flashed Ryo her infamous puppy dog eyes that made everyone do her bidding.

"You're in high school, and your still doing that?" Ryo complained, "_*Sigh*_ Fine."

"Great! Now follow me and we'll show you to the roof!" Hikari exclaimed as she lead the twins out. Ryo was just wanted to play his games again. School was a bore, and the only reason why he's done so good up to this point was that he got incredibly lucky. He never paid attention in class, hell, most of the time he slept, but it was the nurse's constant bitching about getting good grades. Maybe now that he's out of the orphanage he can relax more often.

After a short walk up three flights of stairs, the tree students reached the roof of CHAS. The roof was quite large, but empty. It had a few potted plants and benches, but nothing special. Ryo looked to the right to find a view of the entire city. Ryo looked back and saw the same two teens that were talking this morning, now chatting on a bench. Michio and the burly teen with the five-o-clock shadow.

"Hey guys, I got them!" Hikaro announced as she ran towards them. The two looked over and saw the twins.

Ryo and Aimi walked up to the three, and Michio stood up. "Hello, my name is Michio Shimizu." He looked toward Ryo. "I apologize for my behavior this morning. I wasn't thinking straight and I was very… Aggravated this morning."

Ryo smiled and extended out his arm. "No sweat." The two shook hands and grinned at each other.

Michio then gestured to the burly teen, "This is Takeo Kimura, and I'm sure you met Hikari."

Takeo smiled. "Hi!" He greeted the twins.

Aimi spoke up for the two of them again. "Hello, I'm Aimi Fujihara and this is Ryo Fujihara. We just got into this school today, so we're surprised that you guys invited us like this so fast."

"Don't worry, almost everyone in this school transferred to this school I believe." Hikari said. "We are the most recent though. And we know how hard it is to transfer; I mean you leave all your friends and precious memories behind most of the time. So us three decided on making a club to help students in need!"

Takeo began to speak, "Michio-sensei says that not enough students care in this school, and most are lazy bums who only do dru-"

"Whoa, whoa Takeo-kun, that part of the conversation stays between us!" Michio sweat dropped as he stopped Takeo.

"Oh, okay sensei!" Takeo smiled again.

Ryo thought for a moment. "Wait, so this is a club…" He pointed out.

"Okay yeah, but were not asking you to join us or anything. We just wanted to let you know that you two got us if you ever needed anything!" Hikari replied with her usual smile.

"Well, how about some lunch?" Aimi pointed out.

"Oh yeah well… We didn't get you anything, cause we didn't know you were coming today." Hikari began slowly, after thinking for a second, she gets a thought. "I know! You two can have my lunch!" She started to search through her bag and found a single peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "It isn't much, but I hope it can hole you over!"

Hikari handed the sandwich over to the twins. Aimi took it happily and started eating like a bear who just came out of hibernation. Ryo though rejected the offer. "Sorry, I couldn't…"

"Oh okay then…" Hikari seemed disappointed, but when looking down, her face showed relief. Ryo took noticed and made a note of it in the back of his mind.

"Hikari, I know you're generous, but you can't just be eating half a sandwich every day." Michio scolded.

"Yeah, yeah I know…" Hikari rolled her eyes at that statement. She then started to eat her half of the sandwich hungrily as well.

"So… Uh, do you have a club name?" Ryo asked Michio.

"No not yet. We keep pitching ideas, but we can't decide." Michio answered.

"Sensei, are they going to join?" Takeo rose and asked Michio.

"Shhh Takeo-kun, you don't say that out loud!" Michio said angrily.

"Oh, sorry sensei…" Takeo slumped back down onto the bench.

Ryo noticed something was wrong with Takeo, but he didn't want to ask to be rude. Instead to distract himself he thought of a conversational topic. "So… What are you guys studying?"

"Yeah, good question. I wasn't getting anything they were teaching in class today." Aimi said swallowing her last bite.

"Well, right now we're on Biology in science class. Really fascinating stuff. I wish they taught more about evolution and such." Michio trailed off.

Hikari was just finishing her slice when she chimed in. "I forgot to mention, Michio here is a friggin' genius. Hundreds in all classes I swear!

"Yeah, and sensei tutors me on Sundays. He helps me a lot with my homework!" Takeo said.

"Wow, those are even better than our grades!" Aimi said mystified. "And we were like the smartest in the orphanage!"

"Oh my god! You two come from an orphanage!" Hikari said, mouth agape.

"Well yeah, we don't-" _*Ding-Dong*_ Like with Takeo that morning, the school bell cut off Aimi.

"Oh no! Well listen I think I finally though up a name that we all will like!" Hikari announced to the two club members. "How about 'The Golden Heart Hunters'!"

Michio looked ambivalent. "Meh, works for me." He said.

"I like it! It sound like a manga fro Jump!" Takeo happily said.

"Exactly! It'll draw people in!" Hikari winked at the two. "Okay it's settled. We are now called 'The Golden Heart Hunters'!"

Aimi and Ryo looked at each other. Sometimes they didn't need to talk to converse. Sometimes they could just think it, and the other would somehow understand. Ryo couldn't explain it any other way then twin super powers. "Hey Hikari, I think Ryo and I would like to join The Golden Hearts." Aimi said for the two of them again.

"Really? Yes! Now we can apply to the principle and become a real club!" Hikari jumped with glee.

Everyone was smiling, including Ryo, for their new found friendship. All of a sudden, Ryo's eyes flashed and he heard a sound from somewhere deep in his mind. His sight dimmed and a card appeared before him. It was the same card that appeared the night in the Velvet Room. 'The Fool'. It had a man being chased by a dog, and the number zero imprinted on it. A voice chimed in his head.

_'Thou art I… And I am thou… Thou hast established a new bond… Your journey to fulfill life hast taking a step forward… Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Fool Arcana… The Golden Heart Hunters will become a great asset, cherish thy bonds.'_

The voice faded with that last sentence. The card evaporated into a glowing light that enveloped Ryo. He felt warm and comforted afterward. When his vision came back, everyone was staring at him.

"Bro… You okay?" Aimi asked.

Ryo blinked at the statement. "Yeah… I'm fine."

_*Ding-Dong*_ The bell for class chimed again. "Oh crap! We're going to be late for class!" Michio yelled as he bolted down the stairs. Soon everyone followed suit trying to avoid being late aswell.

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><p><em>009nhalf: What you said about the mood is completely right, and to answer your question, you'll find out later. :)<em>

_Also, I know I should've saved the Fool Social Link until they at least get their Personas, but I didn't want to have chapters where nothing happens in the end._


	4. Chapter 4 Tour of the Town

_Hi again! Well I'm kinda went over board on this one. Still welcoming critisism to help my writing. Anyways, I'm going to be posting songs that go along with the areas at the bottom, and if you don't like them, the beauty is you can put in your own soundtrack! Warning though, that almost all my songs are going to come from Sonic the Hedgehog games. Is it just me or do those songs (Especially Knuckel's stages from SA2) sound alot like Persona music? Oh well. Enjoy the chapter!_

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><p><em><strong>Chapter<strong>_** 4 – Tour of the Town**

**February 14, 2018 – Friday [Classroom 2-C, Afternoon]**

Ryo sighed; the first school day had just ended and already he felt like he was in a monotonous routine. The brunette looked over to find Aimi had already left. Ryo stood up, re-adjusted his baseball cap backwards, and began towards the door. As he walked, he was interrupted by a tall female in the same grade as him. She had brown hair like him, but had it held up in a barrette. Her skin was milky white and she had large green-eyes. She had lip gloss on with many accessories attached to her school uniform.

"Hi…" Ryo started. Her pose in the doorway was threatening; she looked at him with dead serious eyes.

"Hello, my name is Katsumi Ishida. I'm the student council president for sophomores, like you or I. I wanted to be the first to welcome you to CHAS." Katsumi said in an aggravated tone.

Ryo scratched the back of his neck. "Well… Sorry but somebody's already beat you to the punch for both my sister and I."

"Whatever." She said harshly and walked out. As she did, she bumped into Michio coming into the room. The president didn't even look back and just continued to walk.

Michio walked into 2-C and up to Ryo. "Ugh… You had a chat with **her **I'm guessing?" Michio said in a slightly disgusted tone.

"Well… It wasn't much of a chat and more like her getting an errand done." Ryo replied.

"Yeh, well, that was Katsumi. She's a bitch and a half. She thinks she's all high and mighty cause she's in the student council and has good looks." Michio rolled his eyes. "I heard she's from the USA, maybe that's why."

Ryo thought for a second. "That would explain why she's white…"

"Mhmm… Anyways, do not let anything she says get to you." Michio said reassuringly. "Oh yeah! Ryo, Takeo and I want to take you for a tour of Chichibu. I'll text Hikari and tell her to track down Aimi."

"Kay, let's go then…" Ryo continued for the door with Michio following behind.

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><p><strong>February 14, 2018 – Friday [Chichibu Plaza, Afternoon]<strong>

On their way out, the two met up with Takeo and headed for town. Michio and Takeo showed Ryo the town plaza, the busiest place during the afternoon and at night. The plaza had many different shops around the edges, from clothing stores to restaurants. Michio said that if you wanted to meet up with anyone you would do it here. The plaza was extremely large, and had a slightly smaller fountain in the center. Some people were in suits rushing by people, while others were lounging on the benches, eating or just relaxing after a long day of work.

Takeo wanted to show Ryo something desperately, so the two followed the larger teen toward a simple ramen shop. "Tad-daaa~ Welcome to Kimura Ramen!" Takeo announced proudly. Michio and Ryo both shrugged and entered the relatively clean restaurant. "Pa-pa, I'm home!" Takeo called.

"Ah! Takeo? Come and help yer' old man out!" A voice hollered from the back. Takeo ran behind the counter and into a back room. After some grunts both Takeo and an even burlier man with large, ripping muscles came out. He was bald, but had small white chef's hat to cover that up. He also had a large black handle-bar moustache that covered nearly his entire face. "Welcome! How may I 'elp you two lads?" The man said with a smile.

"Pa-pa, the one with glasses is the one that's been helping with my studies, Michio Shimizu! And the one with the hat is a new friend that just transferred to CHAS with his sister!" Takeo explained with glee to his father.

"Ah-ha!" Takeo's father smiled as he examined the two teens in front of him. "Well you," Looking at Michio, "Thank you for helping my son, that boy never stops talking about how smart you are! Is it true?"

"Well…" Michio looked away, almost ashamed. "I guess…"

"Don't be shy lad! Ahaha!" Takeo's father than looked right at Ryo. "You… I don't know why… But I like yaou! Ahahaha! That fire in yer' eyes and that honest face! You got the makins' of a champion!" Takeo's Father extended it his hand. "'m Ken Kimura! What's yer' name lad?"

Ryo grabbed Ken's hand, "Ryo. Ryo Fujihara."

"Well Ryo and Michio, stop by anytime ya like! I'll always 'ive ya a discount!" Ken smiled and looked at Takeo again. "Now Takeo, ya don't need to be 'ere right now, so why don't ya keep playin' wit 'em?"

"Really! Thanks Pa-pa! Tell Ma-ma I said hi when she gets home!" With that, the three left the Ramen shop. As if on cue, Ryo's stomach growled.

"Ah-ha… Well let's go get something to eat then! Heh…" Ryo stated nervously. Instead of going back inside the ramen shop, the three decided to get something quick, like ice cream.

On their way to the ice cream store, a very thin teen came running out with a cone. He wore a CHAS uniform, and had a pair of headphones around his neck. His hair was red and curly, his eyes blue, and it looked like he was in a hurry. While running out, he crashed against Ryo, spilling his ice cream all over Ryo's jacket.

"!" He quickly blurted out handing Ryo three, hundred yen coins and then running of out of the plaza. The three were left in a little shock

Ryo finally broke the silence. "D-Do you know him?" He questioned Michio and Takeo.

"I-I think that was Isao Heikichi…" Michio replied. "He's from 2-E, class 2-C's rival class."

Ryo raised his eyebrow for a second. _"Rival class? Oh whatever…"_ Ryo didn't decide to question it. The three got ice cream and decided they should check out downtown before it got dark. On their way there, Ryo noticed a poster of a cute girl with blonde hair wearing a white version of CHAS' normally pink girl's uniform. She was holding a microphone and posing somewhat seductively. Ryo tilted his head at this poster. _"Last time Aimi checked, she said there weren't any new idols."_ Ryo looked around and there were several of the same posters hung up all around him that he, somehow, didn't notice until now. "Yo, Michio, do you know this girl?" Ryo asked nervously.

"Hmm?" Michio turned to see the poster Ryo was pointing at. "Oh yeh that's Sakura Nakashima. She's this student at CHAS who Principle Ito is trying to push into stardom. Sakura is not her real name, but no one can remember it for the life of them."

"Sakura-chan is really pretty!" Takeo said adoring the poster.

Michio was pulling the burly student along. "Careful Takeo, she is from 2-E as well. Now come on we still have a lot to show you!" Michio said to Ryo. Ryo took one last look at the poster and continued forward.

* * *

><p><strong>February 14, 2018 – Friday [Downtown Chichibu, Afternoon]<strong>

After dome more walking, they finally reached the downtown district of Chichibu. It had many flashing lights and far more stores than the plaza. It was loud, smoggy, and was even busier. They walked along the sidewalk and Ryo finally found what he was looking for, a game shop. His eyes lighted up, he knew there was one here, but his hope diminished as they checked the plaza. Ryo wanted to enter, but Michio and Takeo were already on their way. Ryo had to pry himself from the entrance to catch up with his friends. They passed some more restaurants, a couple stores a police station, and a bar before finally getting to a back alley.

Michio stopped. "Fair warning when coming down here, these back allies are filled with criminals and thugs. If you need any help just run straight for the police-" Michio was suddenly pulled violently by an unseen hand into the alley. Both Ryo and Takeo ran into the alley for their friend to find him being mugged by a man with a large, purple Mohawk. His hand was in the shape of a gun and inside his jacket's pocket.

"Give me all your money kid!" The mugger said. Takeo then walked up and punched the mugger square in the face. The mugger fell down when he looked up to see the extremely large teenager before him. He scrambled onto his feet and ran down the alley.

"Ahem… Like I was saying-"Before Michio could finally compose himself and finish his sentence, another voiced echoed.

"Yo hombres! Ya better be careful, or else the snake might strike again!" The unknown voiced said.

"Viper, knock it off before we call the cops on you again!" Michio called back. "Ugh… That's Ricardo Culebra, he calls himself Viper. He's a punk that came from Mexico last year. Since then, he single handedly increased the crime rate in Chichibu!" Michio explained to Ryo.

"Hey, hey! I couldn't have done it without mi amigos!" The voice, Viper, echoed back; many cries of celebration could be heard right afterward.

"C'mon let's go…" Michio said as the three stalked out of the alley. As they did, they realized how late it was. The stars were already shining, so the three decided to part ways and go home for the night.

* * *

><p><strong>February 14, 2018 – Friday [Fujihara Apartment, Late Night]<strong>

Ryo walked into the apartment and found his sister tearing up on the couch, watching TV. Aimi noticed her brother walk in. "W-Where have you been!" She asked very harshly. Her eyes were filled with concern, and her face was pale.

Ryo was shocked and then looked at the clock in the kitchen; 11:00 PM it read. "Sorry, Michio and Takeo wanted to show me around the city…" Ryo replied with an ashamed look on his face. "…Were you crying?"

Aimi was frozen for a seconded and then recomposed herself. "Yeh, b-but it was at this soap opera…" Ryo looked at the TV screen. It was on a wrestling show.

"Yeh… Wait I thought we didn't have power."

"Well, I asked, and the man at the front desk gave us one free week of power and water. But we seriously need to start paying bills."

Ryo put two and two together and realized that she was telling him to get a job. He suddenly realized how tired and unmotivated he was. Ryo yawned, he never needed a job at the orphanage. "Well I'm going to bed…" He started to head for his bedroom.

"Good night…" Aimi softly said.

Ryo stopped. "Night…" With that Ryo went into his room and plugged in his now dead PSV. He was dead tired and getting a job AND going to school wasn't what he wanted to hear. Soon enough he drifted into sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>February 14, 2018 – Friday [The Velvet Room, Late Night]<strong>

Ryo once again found himself in the blue room sitting in a chair surrounded by monitors. Igor was sitting at his desk like last time, grinning wildly. He outstretched his hands, and the three screens behind him showed the face of the long nose man instead of the usual dark city. "Welcome to the Velvet Room!"

"My, my…" Igor continued. "Look at your progress… Already you have established your first social link! That is a great accomplishment that no other guest has ever done." Igor clapped for Ryo over this achievement. "You may not know what this means, but in due time you will! Just remember to keep this bond and cherish it forever."

Ryo looked at Igor questionably. _"What's his aim?"_ But, hell, he was too tired to ask anything.

"Now… What does our guess have in store for him now?" Igor waved his hand and the same deck of cards appeared. With another wave, he separated two cards again and flipped both over. "Ah the Sun Arcana in the downward position… Tsk, tsk that shows great signs of depression and sadness. The other is the Death Arcana in the upright. Hope. Take that any way you please, but hope for the future."

Igor waved his hands once again to dismiss the cards. "Well you were quite quiet tonight… Maybe that will change the next time, which will be soon. Until then, goodbye! And continue your search for life's fulfillment!" Igor raised his arms and Ryo felt his eyes become heavy once again.

* * *

><p><em>Song time! (Give them a quick YouTube search if your interested.)<em>

_CHAS School Grounds: Aquatic Mine (Sonic Adventure 2)_

_Chichibu Plaza & Fujihara Apartment: Wild Canyon (Sonic Adventure 2)_

_Downtown Chichibu: Meteor Herd (Sonic Adventure 2)_

_Velvet Room: A Poem to Everyone's Souls (Persona Series)_


	5. Chapter 5 Learning More

_Sorry for the long wait, but I got a little discouraged, but found it within myself to write this one. As such, I made another long chapter, trying to get through an entire day. I was having trouble at times conveying what the characters wanted to say, but keep in mind I'm primarily doing this at 10:00 at night so it's not my best work. Like always, any constructive critisicim is welcome!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 5 – Learning More<strong>

**February 14, 2018 – Friday [?, Late Night]**

The room was dark; the only light came from the city down below. A man sat in a revolving chair with his arms resting and his hands clasped to each other. His face was stern with an aggravated look; the rest of his body was shrouded with shadow. All of a sudden, the phone on the desk behind the man rang. He turned around and waited for the phone to ring three times.

The man reached over and picked it up. "Yes? Well… No. Listen, all I can tell you right now are that things are going according to plan… No, there weren't… Agh, well give it another day I'm sure he'll arrive… Now about that research… The one I assigned last week?... Alright, well now all that's left are those criminals… Okay. Goodbye…" He put the phone back down and sighed. His gaze drifted form scattered pieces of paper on his desk to a picture of a young, pretty woman. "What came to this Rie?" He put the framed picture facing down, hung his head in shame, and covered his eyes with his hands.

For the rest of the night, all that could be heard were the man's sobs.

* * *

><p><strong>February 15, 2018 – Saturday [Jundo Street, Morning]<strong>

Once again, Ryo and Aimi were walking to school. Ryo was staggering because of his lack of sleep and his violent vomiting. Aimi looked at him with concern, "Maybe you should take today off?"

"Nah, can't, already this far…" Ryo only looked forward and continued at a faster pace. This act lead to him crashing into another student with white milky skin.

"HEY, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" She yelled with a violent connotation. Ryo looked up and recognized her as Katsumi. Katsumi slapped Ryo across the face and he fell into the river, down the hill that they were on. "You better not do that again, pervert." Her two followers laughed at Ryo and all three walked along.

Aimi came down the hill and helped Ryo out of the murky water; she pulled out a rag from her shirt pocket and handed it to Ryo. "Are you alright? Geez, she was a bitch… I think just about everyone could see you tripped."

"Whatever…" Was Ryo's response when the school bell rang. The twins ran off toward the school building, even if Ryo was soaked.

* * *

><p><strong>[Jundo Street - Class 2-C]<strong>

Everyone was talking during homeroom, and Ryo and Aimi were just walking into the class. As they sat at their desks, Michio and Takeo walked up. "Hey, Ryo-san! Aimi-san!" Takeo greeted happily. Ryo simply nodded his head at the two.

"Hey Aimi, want us to show you the town too?" Michio asked. His gaze was somewhat dismayed as he looked at the sister.

"No thank you; Hikari already offered and I said no." Aimi said not noticing what was wrong.

"Okay…" Michio sat down at this desk and Takeo sat in front of him. Just after, a tall teen walked in with blue hair and sunglasses. His hair extended out into a massive quiff cascading down his face. His teeth were yellow and chipped and his CHAS uniform dirty and torn. At his entrance everyone looked at him and gasped. Even Michio, who was deep into his book, looked up and was shocked. The teen smirked and continued to a vacant seat in the back of the class. He kicked his feet up and leaned back in the chair.

"The hell is _he_ doing here?" Ryo overheard a loud student say.

"I dunno, I've never actually seen him in school." Another gossiping student said.

Ryo leaned over to Michio. "Who's that?" Ryo asked.

"Guh… Viper, from the back alley; what's he doing in school, I have no idea." Michio responded. Viper looked around and spotted Aimi. He smiled wildly as he put his feet down and walked over to her.

"Hola, señorita… They call me Viper… And what's your name?" Viper said resting his hands on Aimi's desk. Ryo stood up to protect his sister; his stare was deathly and intimidated Viper. "Whoa! Big man in the class here!" Viper said mockingly, keeping his cool.

Aimi looked pleadingly up to Ryo. Ryo just continued to glare at Viper. "Maybe you should just back off." Ryo said. Ryo was bigger than Viper, but it looked as if Viper was the better fighter. Viper just continued to smile, holding back laughs, until finally the teacher came in.

"EXCUSE ME!" Ms. Shimizu commanded her class. As usual all the students hushed up and sat at their desks, except for Viper. "Ah, yes. Well everyone how about we welcome Ricardo back to class. You might be wondering why since he was expelled, well it seems that Chichibu's mayor is forcing teens, like him, to return to school for a proper education."

"Oh come on Shimi! I thought we were friends!" Viper fake pouted.

"So everyone, just ignore his antics until the mayor comes to his senses." Ms. Shimizu continued. The bell then rang and Viper finally took his seat.

* * *

><p><strong>February 15, 2018 – Saturday [Rooftop, Lunch Break]<strong>

Ryo, Aimi, Michio, and Takeo were all on the roof chatting and eating lunch. Michio was still looking down while Takeo was gleeful and speaking loudly. The doors suddenly swung open and Hikari walked onto the roof with a large smile on her face.

"Well?" Michio began, wanting to ask the question everyone was begging to ask.

Hikari just continued to smile and nodded her head. Instantly everyone's face brightened. "From now on, we'll meet in room 2-F after school." She said.

"Isn't 2-F the really small class?" Takeo asked with displeasure.

"Yeh… But we are a small group, so we get a small room!" Hikari replied. Everyone looked a lot happier; they were now officially a club. "Mr. Ito said that in order to keep our club status, we need to do community service as a club activity. So I say we help students in need, like we did for you guys!" Hikari looked at the twins who thought for a second.

"That sounds great! I can't wait until we actually start!" Aimi shouted. Hikari sat down and the five continued eating their lunches together while chatting. When lunch was over, the bell rang. As everyone walked back to class, Ryo noticed Hikari looking out at the horizon. She had a dreamy look on her face and was just smiling.

Ryo walked up and was about to say something when Hikari cut him off. "Ryo… Do you ever think that… People are good at heart? I think so… But they just need to find it within themselves to do good…"

Ryo looked around awkwardly. "It depends…" Ryo said trailing off. _"What's going on with her?"_ Ryo thought.

"Sorry for asking you this… But I couldn't help but wonder what someone else's opinion is…" Hikari turned her face and looked at Ryo. For the first time, Ryo realized how cute she looked, her smile was warm and kind, her face flawless, and she was very kind. Ryo couldn't help but blush. "*giggle*You're blushing!"

"N-No!" Ryo tried to defend himself, but it was no use. Hikari was laughing her ass off, so Ryo sighed and started back to class.

Hikari finished laughing and looked at Ryo once more. "Wait! Listen, Ryo, maybe we can chat sometime? Like Sunday? I know this really good café that just opened up…" She said as she walked up to him. Like Ryo, she was blushing too.

Ryo smiled. "I'd love too" With that, Hikari started laughing again from the cheesy line.

* * *

><p><strong>February 15, 2018 – Saturday [Class 2-C, After School]<strong>

Classes had just ended as Ryo and Aimi were packing up. Ryo wanted to get off school grounds so he could play his PSV, but the hallways were crowded around Viper. Both Ryo and Aimi slid out of the crown without getting hurt, luckily. As they walked down the hall, Ryo noticed Class 2-E. _"Didn't Michio say something about this class yesterday?"_ Ryo pulled out the three-hundred yen coins from his pocket and walked into the class, hoping to find Isao.

The class was about the same size as 2-C, but had was much roomier thanks to the fewer desks. Ryo looked around and saw the red-haired student packing up his bags. Ryo walked over and could faintly hear music playing. The music was coming from the headphones around Isao's ears; it was some kind of pop music that was likely from an idol. Ryo tapped him on the shoulder which broke him out of his trance and looked up. "Here…" Ryo said as he handed Isao the three coins.

Isao blinked twice thinking about what just happened, and then he stood up. He studied Ryo for a second. "Wait… You were hanging around Michio and Takeo yesterday weren't you?" Isao accused. "You better get out now, you CHITSU!" His voice rose and everyone was now staring at Ryo now with the same intensity as Isao, but looked more vicious.

Ryo ran out as soon as the students started hurling books, pencils, or anything they could find at him. He ran out the door and continued down the hallway. Aimi already left leaving Ryo alone as he walked off to the school grounds. Without much to do, Ryo left school down Jundo Street towards his apartment.

* * *

><p><strong>February 15, 2018 – Saturday [Fujihara Apartment, Night]<strong>

Ryo came into the small apartment for the third time, and found he was in complete darkness. Aimi was on the couch like last time, but she wasn't watching anything, she was curled up mumbling things to herself and crying. Ryo sat down beside her and rubbed her back.

"Bro… I want to go *sniff* home…" Aimi said sobbing. "I want *sniff* to be where we didn't have to worry about anything!" Ryo was less than happy. He always believed that the orphanage was terrible, and actually did more harm than it helped. He finally left that run-down, overcrowded house, and now Aimi wanted to go back? "There was this new guy at the front desk and h-he *sniff* said we had to pay bills first and cut off everything! Ryo, we don't have the money! How the hell are we supposed to live like this! I tried looking for a *sniff* job, but no one would hire me… A-and then I thought about things *sniff* and how I'm absolutely useless, and a looser with no friends… I thought the club would *sniff* give me friends, but the only person who still cares about me away… I want *sniff* to go home where we had a life…"

They sat in silence for a moment, "We can't go back…" Was all Ryo said.

"AND WHY NOT!" Aimi screamed as she suddenly sat up. "You are such an asshole! I hate you!" She ran out the door, still in her school clothes.

Ryo sat contemplating. _"What exactly happened to her? Everyone is acting strange today… Or is it just me?"_ Ryo thought. His cell phone started to beep, signifying a text message. He opened his cell hoping it was Aimi, but it was from an unknown sender. It read: _do you want your life to change?_ Ryo was puzzled, he didn't have anyone but Aimi's number on this new phone, and it wasn't from any company… "It's probably just spam?" Ryo questioned to himself. Just as he was about to delete it, the cell phone released a blue wave with numbers at the edge. Ryo froze, his phone shut down and he suddenly felt a heavy pressure. A voice came loud and clear, as if on an intercom.

"A fate has chosen yes, The Rapture has begun."

* * *

><p><em>Sorry if the end got a little confusing there, but again, 10:00 at night. Keep them reviews coming.<em>


	6. Chapter 6 'Per' 'So' 'Na'

_Hey! This one here is a big chapter for the story! I think the title of it gives away the reason why, but read and find out! Anyways, later in the chapter I wrote "time skipped" that's supposed to be when in anime everything stops and the colors turn negative for a split second. I didn't know how else to put it, but if anone knows the correct term, I'll happily put it in. Thanks for all the support, I really didn't expect to get so many positive reviews and story favourites, so keep the reviews coming, I wouldn't be able to do this without them! Finally, there might be some iffy stuff in this chapter, I don't know if I should move it to M or not but... **READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED** ... Always wanted to say that..._

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6 – "Per-so-na"<strong>

**February 15, 2018 – Saturday, [Fujihara Apartment - ?, Late Night]**

Ryo looked up from his phone; the world around him began to crumble. As numbers crept up the walls and other various pieces of furniture, they were being destroyed at the same time. Ryo blinked, and in a second all he could see is the red-tinted ruins of what was once his apartment with random numbers floating from the ground. He panicked and got up from the couch which was now a pile of ash. The walls, roof, and most of the floor were now gone and all the furniture was destroyed, everything also appeared burned to a crisp and had a black charcoal feel. The night-time sky had no stars or a moon in sight and instead of being pitch-black with city lights glowing in the horizon; it was navy blue with a bright green grid, almost keeping something back.

"AIMI!" Ryo shouted, but no one answered. He made his way out and walked down a flight of surprisingly sturdy stairs that remained. He ran out into the now deserted road with huge fire-damage. "AIMI!" Ryo called again, but to no avail. For once, Ryo was scared. He felt a warm tear come down from the corner of his eye. His mind was clogged with fears and ideas that prevented him from thinking straight. On instinct he ran down the street continuing to shout for his sister.

What seemed like an hour had passed before Ryo became tired, he still felt like he was holding a massive weight on his back. Eventually he rested on a shattered piece of concrete to catch his breath; the air here was dusty and hard to breath. Ryo rested his head onto a broken wall and saw the moon once again. It was massive, and it glowed extremely bright in the navy blue sky. The moon then shrunk rapidly until it looked like a star, the new object descended down to the land like a shooting star, creating a streak of light. It crashed into a building, and in its wake, a giant mushroom cloud appeared kicking up dust and creating powerful winds. The winds knocked Ryo off his feet and his baseball cap flew off. He hit the ground hard, after a second or two, he began to crawl toward his hat and put it back on.

Ryo rose to his feet and looked into the distance. There was still a massive cloud of smoke in the air where the meteor had landed. The voice inside his head began to pull him toward the object against his will. _"What the hell am I doing!"_ Ryo thought to himself, but he had no control over his body. After a great time walking in various alleyways, Ryo arrived at the crash site of the meteor, but there was no meteor. There was nothing in the crater except an indent at the center where the meteor should've been. Ryo heard footsteps coming, in reaction he looked up in fear. From another dark alley, Michio appeared. "M-Michio!" Ryo said astonished.

Michio broke out of his daze and realized who was standing across the gap. "Ryo! Holy crap, I didn't think anyone else was here…" Michio then looked back down, analyzing the crater. Another set of footsteps could be heard again. Behind Michio came Takeo. He looked as mystified as Ryo and Michio looked when they arrived.

"M-Michio-sensei! Ryo! What's going on?" Takeo asked, tears coming from the corners of his eyes. "Why is no one around?"

"I… I don't know Takeo-kun…" Michio confessed. He looked up at Ryo, "Maybe we should search around town together, it would be safer that way."

"Yeh…" Ryo replied weakly. The trio began to walk down the third alley that connected to the crater. As they walked, they could feel a powerful presence in the air.

Takeo stopped, "Something's wrong…" he said with worry on his face.

"What is it Takeo-kun?" Michio asked, scared himself.

"The world doesn't feel… good." Takeo managed to say.

"What does that mean!" Ryo asked a little irritated.

"I-I-I don't know!" Takeo said bursting into tears and falling to his knees.

"It's all right, Takeo-kun…" Michio said crouching down beside him, "Ryo didn't mean to get angry… Right?" Michio turned his head giving Ryo a death stare.

"I'm sorry Takeo…" Ryo said half-heartedly. After the apology, the three continued down the alley until they reached a rusty chain link fence that was a good 20 feet high.

"Well… Dead end. Great!" Michio stated. Just as they were turning around, a rattling could be heard. When they turned around, Viper had just leaped off the fence that blocked their way.

As Viper was getting up, he noticed the three. "Whoa! What the hell is going on… Why are you three perdedores doing here?"

"We… Don't know… Better question, why are _you_ here?" Michio replied.

"Like it's any of your business!" Viper said as he shoved the three out of the way and walked toward the crater. From the distance they could hear a female's scream. All four rushed toward the crater to find Katsumi at the bottom crying. Ryo was the first to slide down and assist her.

"You alright?" Ryo asked as he came closer.

"Y-Yeh I think, I fell *sniff* and I think I twisted my ankle though…" Katsumi tried to get up but failed. Katsumi's uniform was dirty and she had scratches on her face and arms.

"Let me help" Ryo offered. He held onto Katsumi as she attempted to get up again. Ryo looked up and saw Aimi coming from the alley that he came from. "Aimi!" He exclaimed in relief.

Aimi noticed Ryo holding up Katsumi and took a step back. "Ryo…" She looked around and saw the others as well. Takeo walked up and Ryo let Katsumi rest on the burly teen. Ryo ran up the slope and hugged his sister.

"Thank God you're okay!" Ryo said "You had no idea how worried I was!"

Aimi pushed Ryo away and made a phony smile, "S-Same here…" She looked down at the crater mystified like the rest. "What's everyone doing here?" She asked.

"We don't know…" Michio replied in place of Ryo, "Everyone that we had contact with for the past couple of days were drawn here it seems. Not to mention how it looks like we're the only ones in this place."

"First I got a spam message and now this…" Katsumi complained while messaging her ankle.

"Yo! I got spam too!" Viper replied.

"I got a text message that said 'do you want your life to change?'." Takeo said.

"Same here!" Ryo said looking down at Takeo remembering the text from earlier.

"I got one too so, maybe that means whoever did get one was placed here." Michio concluded, "Aimi, did you get anything?"

Aimi hesitated, "N-No…"

"Really? Maybe that is not the case then." Michio continued.

Ryo remembered something else, "Hey, did anyone else hear that voice when the blue-wave-thing vanished?"

"Yeh! It was all like, about the fates or something?" Viper said confused.

"That's the one!" Ryo was about to jump back down when another screamed echoed from the alley that Takeo and Michio came from. Hikari came running from the darkness screaming. She stopped just before falling into the crater. She looked around and saw the other teens.

"RUN!" Hikari screamed and ran around the crater into the alley that Viper came from.

"Wait, Hikari-san!" Takeo yelled and ran after her, leaving Katsumi with Michio. When he disappeared into the shadows with Hikari, a loud, low growl came from the alley that she came from. Everyone froze in fear; Aimi was the first run away into the same alley as Takeo. The rest of them soon followed suite, trying to escape whatever was coming. They all ran down the long alleyway until they reached the rusty fence again. Hikari was banging her fists on the fence trying to get out.

An extremely loud screech could be heard down the alley. Hikari froze; she slowly turned around to see the monster appearing from the darkness. At first glance, it looked like a beautiful woman with light-blue skin veiled in white silk ribbons, but on further inspection, its face was reptilian-like with pure black, soulless eyes. Its long blue and light blue hair was actually long metallic tentacles coming from its head. It wasn't walking either, it almost seemed like it was floating just above the ground, releasing a mist underneath all the ribbons that hid its lower body. It came towards the teens and looked up; its mouth opened revealing rows of sharp teeth inside and two long pincers that extended out.

Nobody moved, nobody made a noise, nobody breathed. As it came forward, two piles of black sludge spilled from it's the ribbons along with blank masks that had two small eye holes and lines cascading down from the eyes with a zero on the forehead. In a matter of seconds, the black sludge piles formed into gangly, long-clawed apparitions. The body was disproportioned and the extremely large neck held the blank mask. The creatures shuffled their way over, as they were being weighted down by giant iron balls. Hikari screamed, and as if on instinct, the two creatures leaped over everyone and pounced onto Hikari. They began to tear her body to shreds. Blood and entrails were spilled everywhere. All that could be heard were Hikari's muffled screams of pain, until finally one of the creatures clawed at her rapidly beating heart. Like a pack of wolves, they began to devour what was left of the carcass.

Everyone was paralyzed, except Ryo. A fit of rage and hatred overcame him and countered every other instinct he had in his body. Ryo picked up a sharp piece of metal lying on the ground and began to slash away at the two creatures without mercy. They didn't have a chance to react, and as soon as Ryo was tired all that was left of them were two piles of the black sludge that they came from. The creature's masks feel down to the ground and shattered, turning the sludge and the shattered mask pieces into black dust. The alien-like monster let out another screech, this time in pain. It rushed toward Ryo, ignoring everyone else.

Time seemed to slowdown for Ryo in this instance. All he could think about was what the creatures did to Hikari. That voice in the back of his head chimed again, this time loud and clear like when he first appeared in this place. _"Do it…" _It called, _"Summon your true self, do it…"_

"_Per-" _It began.

"Per-" Ryo followed.

"_-So-"_

"-So-"

"_-na"_

"-na"

A blue light enveloped Ryo and knocked back the alien-like monster. Time returned to normal, and in Ryo's hand he held a grey device that looked like a tamagotchi device, but it had a small antenna at the top and a card reader on the side. It also had a blank grey screen and what looked like a barcode scanner at the top. Ryo, without thinking, held down a button on the side and waved the device in front of him in a straight horizontal fashion. As he waved it, a bluish-green stream of numbers and algorithms formed. When Ryo released the button the stream broke into blue shards and the blue light enveloped him once again. This time though, Ryo felt a burning up sensation that he had never felt before. Behind him, his shadow glowed blue like the light.

From Ryo's shadow came a creature with black sludge covering its body like the creatures that killed Hikari. It had red beady eyes, a giant pair of sideways pincers, and a large and bulky body that was covered in a beetle's shell. Its forearms were extremely large, with tiny nubs for fingers sticking out. Its feet were barely that, it had tiny legs with three claws extending out. On its built body, at the center of the chest, it had the same mask as the two creatures wore. The featureless white one with a zero at the forehead. The newly born creature rose above Ryo and roared.

_"THOU ART I, AND I ART THOU."_ It roared, "_Thou hasth searched the sea of thyne soul, and had found ME, Charon, The Death Bringer."_ Charon's voice was deep and gravely, but filled with hatred and spite.

When Charon roared again, Ryo fell down to his knees screaming in pain. His pupils dilated and his eyes instantly became bloodshot. He held his head screaming even further. Now, Ryo could think of nothing because of the pain he felt. Time skipped for a second and then Ryo quickly got up, picked up the metal he used earlier, and rushed into the alien-looking creature. He screamed at the same time as Charon roared. Out of Charon came a wave of purple energy with knocked down the creature. It screamed in pained as Ryo took this opportunity to attack with all he had. His slashes cut through the fabric and cut a deep wound into it.

The creature became dizzy from the onslaughts of attacks, and couldn't stand back up. Now Ryo screamed and Charon roared once again creating another wave of energy hurting the creature immensely. The creature had finally recovered and stood up. It raised its hand and a series of ice shards gathered around Ryo. He only felt this cold once before, but it didn't injure him like this. Ryo had enough. He rushed it once again, this time with Charon in tow, and attacked it simultaneously. It let out a sharp cry as it disintegrated into black dust. Charon faded into Ryo as he felt a surge of energy and the experience of a thousand battles. Something inside of him changed. He felt… Stronger than before.

Ryo turned to see the others in shock of what they just witnessed. Ryo looked down and saw the little that remained of Hikari, including her lifeless face filled with pain. Ryo collapsed, dropping his piece of metal that left deep gashes in his hands. With the last speck of dust fading, numbers started to rise from the ground covering everything. Before they could realize it, all of the teens were transported back to the same alleyway in regular Chichibu, now densely populated and very noisy. All of the pressure from the other place had now been lifted. Aimi dragged herself toward Ryo, and fell to her knees. She yelled for help and screamed for God's mercy.

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><p><em>Raptured Chichibu - Waking Up (Shadow the Hedgehog)<em>

_Normal Battle (And this Boss Fight) - Green Forest (Sonic Adventure 2)_

_Hitoriga127:_ _Glad to hear someone is anticipating the next chapter, it really feels special somehow. And thanks for pointing out my mess-ups, I'll try and look out for them more._

_Twinkle Ace: Thanks!_


	7. Chapter 7 Effects

_Hello! Sorry for the long wait but I just had spring break and family coming over and all but oh well. This was a hard chapter to write because of that, but I though it came out decent at least. Keep them reviews coming, remember any constructive critisicim welcome!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 7 – Effects<strong>

**December 21, 2010 [Somewhere Deep in a Forest, Late Night]**

Ryo held onto Aimi tightly. The wind was blowing fiercely and the twins were knee-deep in snow. As they trekked onwards, the snow began to fall again, covering their faces. The two had never been this cold before. All they could do was pray. Eventually, Ryo collapsed in exhaustion causing Aimi, who had been long unconscious, to fall down with him.

What seemed like a normal day became terrible. Eight year-old Ryo and Aimi were playing in the woods in the afternoon and got lost. Aimi wailed wanting to get back home, but neither of them could find their way back. Hours and hours had passed, but they only wandered farther away from the orphanage. Aimi lost consciousness when the twins fell into a river which was completely covered in snow. Since then, Ryo had been carrying her back home, promising that she would be safe. What seemed like an eternity had passed before the sun went down. Everything was pitch black in the cold, dark woods.

Somehow, Ryo got up. He had the will to live and carried on with his sister on his back. After another two hours, he eventually saw the flickering lights of the orphanage. He began to run. When he got to the locked door, he slammed his fists. A young maid who worked there opened up and was surprised to find the twins. Apparently, no one had noticed that they were missing, and simply forgot about them. Ryo walked down the hallway into the orphanage still carrying Aimi; they continued to walk and walk, but the hallway only grew darker until no light was left. Ryo stopped, exhausted, he heard a low growl come from behind him. When he turned around, the doorway they entered from was nowhere to be found and all that was left was darkness. There was another low growl and the alien-looking creature rose from the shadows. It struck fear into Ryo. As the creature raised its hand, Ryo was plunged into the frozen, white abyss that he came from. He collapsed again, feeling as cold as before…

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><p><strong>February 16, 2018 - Sunday [Chojuinochi Hospital, Afternoon]<strong>

Ryo woke with a start. He suddenly realized he was immensely sore, and was extremely tired as he sat up. His vision was blurry but he decided to look around anyways. Ryo saw two familiar shapes sitting by the hospital bed he was lying on. One was muscular and large while the other was thin and relatively small. It took him a second, but Ryo recognized the two people as Takeo and Michio. He shook his head and tried to speak, but all that came out rough clearing of his throat.

Michio and Takeo had been sleeping but awoke to Ryo coughing. "Oh thank God you are okay!" Michio exclaimed with relief. "You have been out for a while, and the doctors said you were in critical condition for a little bit!"

"They fixed you up real good!" Takeo said and smiled.

Ryo looked down at the palm of his hand which was bandaged. He coughed again but this time spat out a word, "…Aimi…"

"Oh, she is in shock after what happened. The doctors do not know when she will be better." Michio replied. Ryo looked down and thought about what had happened last night. It was all too clear. The burned and destroyed city, the moon falling out of the sky, everyone gathering at the crater, the alien-looking creature, Hikari's death, and Ryo summoning that _thing_. "Um… After you fainted, Katsumi called the hospital. Takeo, Viper, Katsumi, and I were taken to the police station and went through interrogation… They tried Aimi at first, but they deemed her in an unfit mental condition."

"They asked us all these questions about Hikari and what happened. I t-told them, but they didn't believe me!" Takeo almost started crying as he said that.

Michio patted Takeo on his back and the glasses-wearing teen continued, "I think we all told them what really happened, but of course who would believe that everyone was placed in a destroyed version of Chichibu and aliens killed Hikari?" When Michio finished that his eyes darkened when thinking of Hikari's death. "T-They said it was mass hysteria and we had to take drug tests and such, of course all negative. But actually, Mr. Itou was called up and he defended us, because of the club we formed. So they let us off for now, but they still have to question you and Aimi."

Ryo lied his head back down. He had to take this all in so suddenly. He reached for his baseball cap that was on the table next to him and tried to get up. When he almost fell, Michio helped him back up and lied him back down. "You should not try to leave yet. The doctor said you made an amazing recovery. Just stay here, tonight they will let you out." Michio said as an alarm went off from his watch. "… Oh no! Come on Takeo-kun, we have got to do your lessons."

"Okay," Takeo replied, "Goodbye, Ryo! See you at school!"

"Take care of yourself, we will see you tomorrow." Michio said. With that, the two teens walked out of the room.

Ryo was now left alone and he slowly began thinking about last night. _"I brought about that… Monster… It said I was it… What was it called? Charon I think…"_ Ryo thought. As if on cue, Ryo heard a loud snort come from the back of his mind. _"W-What? Are you there! Y-You can hear me?"_ Ryo only heard Charon's bark in response. _"So you can't talk now?... What cat got your tongue?"_ Ryo asked; Charon roared at this remark causing him to flinch._ "Okay fine. Answer me this then! What are you?"_ Charon fell silent. A few seconds later, Ryo began to feel tired and drifted into sleep.

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><p><strong>February 16, 2018 – Sunday [The Velvet Room, Afternoon]<strong>

Ryo found himself in that blue room with monitors scattered everywhere. In front of him was a desk with the long-nosed man, Igor, sitting at it. He unfolded his arms and extended them. The three screens behind him changed their picture from a dark city with a heavy downpour to Igor's face as he smiled manically.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room!" Igor announced; when he refolded his arms, the pictures changed into their usual appearance. "Ah… It seems as if our latest guest has awakened the power of 'Persona'! A great asset in"

"What's going on here?" Ryo demanded, trying to get up from his seat but failing to move at all.

"Persona is an incredibly strong power that emerges from the deepest crevices of your mind." Igor waved his hand and a card descended down from the ceiling and into Ryo's hand. The backside was blue with a face on it; half of it was darkened while the other half seemed transparent. On the front side though was the creature Ryo summoned from the night before, Charon, surrounded by a gold border. "You and your Persona are like two sides on the same coin. Some awaken with a traumatic event in order to quell the pain. As with my other guests you contain the Wild Card ability that differentiates you from other Persona-users."

"What is the 'Wild Card'?" Ryo asked hesitantly.

"You have a wondrous ability to change your Persona at will, like the changing of a mask! With every new Persona, your personality changes and you gain an… Alter ego, if you will." Igor explained, "With this power you are also able to strengthen your heart with Social Links, or bonds with those around you. Social Links bring forth great power to your Persona. Not only that but there are side benefits from strengthening your Social Links including fulfilling your contract." Igor stared straight at Ryo who was sitting in his seat uncomfortably.

"Remember that Social Link you formed the other day? That is a very special one that tends directly to your heart!" Igor continued. "Now, let's see what the future has in store for you…" Igor began waving his hand materializing his deck of tarot cards which then shuffled and spread themselves out leaving two behind. The first was a card with the Roman numeral for ten and it was up-side down. It showed a wheel-like structure with various animals circling it. "The Wheel of Fortune… In the downward position… It represents the changing of times, from bad to worse…" The second card was one that had the Roman numeral for one. It had a pair of eyes gazing out of the card, a pair of hands holding a large flame, and an infinity symbol at the top. "The Magician… In the upright position! It represents self-confidence and the ability to harness one's inner power. This could mean that there is power to be found with dark times! _*Giggles fiendishly*_ What doesn't kill us makes us stronger!"

Igor waved his hand again and the cards disappeared. "You seem to know a lot about this stuff… H-How?" asked Ryo.

Igor giggled again, "I've seen many things, you see, and from those, I've learned much of your world." He twisted his hand and a blue key descended down from the ceiling like Charon's card. Igor grabbed it and sent it to Ryo. Ryo caught it; it seemed to have a magical aura around it. "Keep it, that key will allow you to visit hear anytime you please. Remember, at any time I can also speak to you in the realm of your dreams as you sleep. Next time you come though, it will be on your own accord." Ryo held the key close to his heart.

_"This guy seems to know a lot about what's going on, maybe it won't be so bad if I come back and ask him some more questions."_ Ryo figured in his mind.

"Well farewell, our time together is growing short. Just remember to work on growing your bonds. I will have my assistants constantly check on and remind you of that." With that, Ryo felt tired and closed his eyes, leaving the Velvet Room behind.

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><p><strong>February 16, 2018 – Sunday [Chojuinochi Hospital, Night]<strong>

Ryo awoke in his hospital bed once again. This time he felt healthy and strong. When he looked around the dark hospital room he saw no one else there. Although, he did hear doctors shuffling in the hallway; one walked in and stopped when he saw Ryo sitting up. "Oh, great! You're awake! Okay then well I am just telling you that you're ready to leave whenever you would like!" The doctor said, "When you are ready, I'll have a family member called and you can go! Do you have anyone to take you right now?"

Ryo hesitated, "Just my sister… But I heard she is under some mental therapy… I'd like to go though." Ryo said looking at the doctor. "I can walk myself home; I've been in worse situations."

The doctor began to get tense, "I might get fired, but you look fine so I'm gonna let you go alone…"Ryo got dressed and after snealing out, made his way back to his apartment.

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><p><strong>[Chojuinochi Hospital – Fujihara Apartment]<strong>

When Ryo got home, he found a shivering Aimi on the couch. She was sweating profusely and had a blank expression on her face. She didn't notice Ryo until he walked right next to her. When she did, all the brown-haired girl could do was look up and make a small sound. Her brother bent down and hugged her. "It's okay…" Ryo whispered in her ear, "It's gonna be okay… I'm safe… You're safe… That's all that matters, right?" He couldn't help but think of Hikari. Her death tipped him over the edge, and caused him to summon his Persona. It was still eating away at him, but lying to his sister was all he could do to help her.

Aimi made another small noise and laid down on the couch she was on. Hearing her brother again made her feel a lot better. She drifted to sleep and Ryo got up yawning. He had a long night that was for sure. He walked into his room and lied down on his futon. They still haven't gotten any real furniture other than a couch, TV, and dining room table. He finally began to feel the bulge that was in his coat pocket. He grabbed the mysterious item inside and found the blue key he obtained in his dream with Igor. _"This can't be real!"_ Ryo thought to himself. Grabbing the key with both hands, he inspected it once more. It was a simple metal key with the letters 'V R' inscribed on it. Ryo put it by his bed next to his PSV and turned around. _"Too tired to think; I'll figure it out in the morning…"_ He soon drifted off to sleep like his sister, but not as sound. The rest of the night he was thrashing in his sheets having terrible nightmares of the alien-creature and Hikari's death over and over again.

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><p><em>Chojuinochi Hospital - Wave Ocean (Sonic the Hedgehog 2006)<em>

_TwinkleAce: I'm sorry but all I could think when you said that is "Oh my god you killed Kenny!". Thanks too._

_Hitoriga127: I think that explained that. but essentially everyone was too scared to move, except Ryo of course. Thanks too, I worked realy hard last chapter._


	8. Chapter 8 Recovery

_All right! well sorry this chapter took so long! I've been studying for the year-end exams at my school. They set it up really wierd like they have two differant tests two months apart, buuuuuuut I don't wanna botch about it here so here's the new chapter. Keep the reviews coming!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 8 – Recovery<strong>

**February 17, 2018 – Monday [Fujihara Apartment, Morning]**

The next morning, Ryo woke up and walked out of his room. He felt… Refreshed somehow, which is especially odd because of the events that transpired. When he came into the living room, he found his sister, Aimi, still in shock. Her usually tied up brown hair was unkempt with long bangs in her eyes. The windows behind her showed a gray sky. It was a perfect backdrop from an artist's perspective. He shook his head, _"I can't think about this now…"_. Ryo got ready and decided to not to let Aimi go today. In this vegetable-like stat, she wouldn't be able to do any work. That was the entire reason they were put in CHAS.

Just before Ryo left, he heard a quiet voice echo through the hallway, "…Goodbye…"

Ryo looked back, "…Bye Aimi…" He didn't feel like talking, never again. Why? Even he doesn't know, but he just never wanted to do it again. Maybe it was his way of dealing with everything. With that he left the apartment complex and headed for the daily obstacle that is school, not sure where his mind should wander.

**[Fujihara Apartment – Jundo Street]**

It was surprisingly quiet. Not even the birds who loved to flock along the river's edge were chirping. The silence made Ryo uncomfortable. "Hey…" Ryo bolted upright from his usual slouch. The voice eased him, until he matched it with _her_ face. He didn't bother turning around. He wasn't in the mood to be harassed by some pretty girl. "Tch… Can you listen to me!" Katsumi said, the anguish apparent in her voice. After a second, Ryo finally bothered to turn his head around just enough to see the light-skin girl. "I-I know there has been a lot going on between… But, I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't offer you this. If you ever need to talk to anybody... I'm here. For you. B-But don't get the wrong idea! It's just… I know what you're going through is hard."

Ryo turned his head just enough to see her out of the corner of his eye. "Thanks." Said Ryo lamely. Truly though, he wasn't thankful. He had enough. He continued forward briskly, instantly forgetting about Katsumi.

**[Jundo Street – Class 2-C]**

Ryo sat in his usual desk next to Michio. Michio was reading a book as usual, but was a bit more fidgety. Takeo was actually there before Ryo which was surprising. He wasn't talking to Michio loudly like he normally would either. Of course, Ryo didn't pay much attention. All he could think about were his problems. Every moment he only thought back to Hikari's death or his traumatized sister. _"Man… If only I could play my PSV…"_ Ryo thought. Games were always his escape from the real world. All the problems he had growing up in that damn orphanage; he needed now more than ever.

Viper walked into the classroom now, his usual strong and confident stride was wobbly. He sat down in his desk to the back corner, except he didn't kick his feet up. For a second, everything was quiet in the classroom, and then the chatter began to rise once again. Ryo gazed around the room. Just then he realized that Katsumi was actually in his homeroom, but far from him in the front of the class. He quickly looked away, not wanting to think about her anymore.

"Oi," The gruff voice had snapped Ryo out of his daze. Without realizing it, Viper had walked up behind him. They stared each other in the eyes for a second. "…Screw this…" whispered Viper under his breath, and he stalked away.

"I bet he wanted to talk about the event." Michio now caught Ryo's attention, "We should keep an eye out for the people who were there. Oh and club meeting after school." Ryo nodded in agreement before drifting off again.

Ryo looked down at his hand, it was still bandaged. _"Maybe Charon will have the answers."_ Ryo thought, instantly his brain fought with him, _"-What answers?-I don't know!-What is there to ask?"_ The argument in his head was halted by the school bell.

**February 17, 2018 – Monday [Class 2-F, Afterschool]**

After the students of 2-F evacuated, the Golden Heart Hunters soon took their place. Ryo, Michio, and Takeo were all seated and looking at each other. Takeo cleared his throat, "Hikari's gone right?"

Michio was surprised, "Y-Yeh… But why do you say that Takeo-kun?"

"Well… I think we should appoint a new leader. Hikari was the one who got us all in this club." Takeo's voice had a little of his usual cheeriness. "So maybe we should have a new leader to do all the paper work!"

"That is actually a good idea!" Michio commented, "I think you should do it." Michio turned his head to look at Ryo.

"I-I don't know…" Ryo quietly put.

"You'd be awesome at it!" Takeo responded his gleefulness back completely.

"Yes, I think we need someone strong to do it." Said Michio.

Ryo smiled. _"I never really had a position of power…"_ Ryo thought. He nodded and Michio clapped his hands.

"Then it is settled!" After Michio said that, the door slid wide open. The stout Mr. Itou walked in, a vein on his forehead. Behind him was Katsumi and Viper, they reluctantly walked into the small classroom as well. "M-Mr. Itou what-"

"Cut the crap!" Mr. Itou demanded, "I had to go through hell to keep you kids around! Now you better start doing your job! Help… rehabilitate these kids into… society or whatever! Just keep yourselves out of anymore shit!" The principals entire body was red with anger as he stormed out.

The group stood in silence for a moment. "If that's all, I'm leaving. Adíos maricones!" Viper said and started for the door.

"I would not do that if I were you…" Viper stopped when Michio spoke up. "Mr. Itou might give you even more grief than if you were to stay here…"

Viper sighed and took a seat far away from the others. Katsumi had a blank expression and sat a few desks away from the main group. Everybody was quiet once again. Ryo tried to think of something to say, but what? He didn't want to think back to that night, never again. "So anything on your minds?" Takeo began hesitantly.

"Aw just shut it." Viper replied, while Katsumi stayed quiet. "The only reason why we're here is cuz Itou thinks we killed a girl. This is such bullshit. There's no way we can gonna clear our names."

"…W-Well maybe this is a good time to try and make new friends!" Takeo said trying to remain cheerful, "Like my mom tells me, 'Think positive!'"

"What 'new friends'? Things spread in the back alleys like you wouldn't believe! Soon enough, people will think we held a massacre!" Viper swung his fist and toppled a desk over. Takeo's demeanor was quickly vanishing. Tears were forming at the edges of his eyes, and he began to choke up.

"Please… maybe we can-"

"Just shut the hell up already! No one cares!" Viper rose from his seat to intimidate Takeo. The burly teen began to cry as he backed away from the punk.

Ryo had to step in, "Back off!" The leader stood up as well and Viper turned around.

"Well maybe I should shove my foot up your culo!" Viper threatened. He took a step forward and there they were, in the same situation, staring each other down.

Michio's voice rang loud and clear, "Instead if bickering like children, maybe we should actually talk about what happened. I believe that what happened was a sign for things to come. Remember when that voice said something about the rapture? Maybe it was right. Think about it, maybe that was our future. And what you two are doing will cause it!" Viper hesitated but sat back in his seat; Ryo did the same. "There… Now we should assess the situation. First, that terrible rendition of Chichibu. It seemed most of it was damaged by fire. That could be a clue as to what happened, maybe a nuclear explosion of sorts? Second, was the voice. It said that a fate had chosen the rapture to begin. Now I am a bit rusty on my ancient literature, but I believe that the Fates were the ones in Greek mythology who determined the outcome of a person's life, and the rapture is the Christian version of the end of the world."

"Wow Sensei, you know so much about this myth stuff!" Takeo commented, now calmed down a bit.

Michio's face turned from serious to ashamed once again, "Well you learn a lot reading books…" He cleared his throat and continued, "Third, was the monster. It looked like a drawing of an alien you would see from most abductees'. Maybe it was extra-terrestrial in origin because of the meteor that fell from the sky. Fourth was…" Michio turned his head to look at Ryo, "the thing you summoned. I cannot even imagine how you did that, but in the end it saved our lives. Do you know anything?"

Ryo was about to tell the group about Charon, but he didn't felt like he was obligated to keep it a secret. "No… I-I don't." He said.

"I think you said 'Persona' or something. Whatever it was, it seemed like it had super-natural powers like the alien, maybe they are connected. Right now the facts we have are not enough to identify the situation." Michio stated.

"What about the girl?" Katsumi spoke up.

Michio's face turned pale, and Takeo hung his head down in shame. "You mean Hikari?" The burly teen answered.

"Yeh, with her death we know we didn't dream it or anything, because she would still be here." Katsumi said, "And your wounds looked pretty real to me." She gazed at Ryo who looked down at his bandages.

"Well… Yes, b-but that does not help us at all." Said Michio. Secretly, he purposefully skipped Hikari's death, and he didn't want anyone to mention it. "They took away her body so now we do not have any physical evidence that we can inspect."

"Yo, what about the texts we all got?" Viper chimed in.

"The text messages of course!" Michio pulled his cell phone out and began to search through his inbox to find the message. Everyone else did the same and tried to look. "Wait… where did it go? I didn't delete it… I forgot about it until Viper brought it up!"

"Yeh! Did someone… break into our shit!" Viper yelled.

"I-I can't find it!" Katsumi said.

"Sensei, what's going on?" Takeo asked. "What about you?" Ryo shook his head; apparently nobody had the message anymore. A light went off on Ryo's cell phone simultaneously with everyone else's. The only sound in the room came from the buzzing of phones. They all checked their messages slowly like in some kind of horror movie. The message read: _'02202018'_ Once again, there was no number and no subject. Nothing, except the ominous numbers.

"What the hell is that suppose' to mean!" Viper asked to particularly no one.

"It has to mean something, like Morse Code!" Katsumi suggested.

"No… It is not. These numbers…" Michio said. He studied his phone screen for a second and then wearily looked up. "It is probably because I am tired, but I cannot think right now. I am going to go home; Takeo, our lessons are going to be canceled for today."

"T-That's fine Sensei." Takeo responded. The two of them got up from their seats and left the room briskly.

"This is my cue to leave." Viper said under his breath. Him and Katsumi both got up and left the room as well.

Ryo was left in Class 2-F alone with his thoughts. _"What the hell is going on!"_ He was expecting Charon to whisper all the answers in his ear, but no all-knowing voice ever came. _"I-I'm tired, yeh tired! I'll just go home to Aimi and try to cheer her up!"_ The leader got up after a minute of sitting in the empty classroom, but before leaving the room, he heard something.

_"This is only the beginning…"_

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><p><em>Hitoriga127: Yeh sorry about that... I think I was trying to cover a bit too much in that small of a chapter. I usually like to keep these about four pages long in Microsft Word. Also I was a bit excited and at times I think I rush my self to get some pieces of exposition over with so I can get to more fights and Social Links. What I'm trying to say that it isn't you; I wrote last chapter poorly, again I'm sorry.<em>


	9. Chapter 9 Silent Night

_Alright, here's another chapter. A bit short but I covered enough. Also this is the first chapter where Ryo will get to roam freeley. I think to make this story less of a drag, I'll just briefley go over what he did. I'll get to social links later, but I'm thinking about having like 2-3 in a chapter. I don't know just yet. Well give me your opinion on this, becuase I could also go the route of P4 The Animation where I could devote a chapter to a person and get their Social Link over with._

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><p><strong>Chapter 9 – Silent Night<strong>

**February 17, 2018 – Monday [Fujihara Apartment, Night]**

He wanted it to all end. Ryo was struggling on his way home. When he heard the voice back at school, he was scared. He bolted back to his apartment feeling as if someone was watching him. He became paranoid, looking around whenever he was by a dark alley or some trees. People looked at him wearily, avoiding him at all costs. To everybody else, he was that strange person you see in big cities doing weird things, like walking without a shoe. It didn't help when Ryo saw police cruisers outside the apartment complex.

Ryo stopped,_ "No… Not now!"_ He ran inside and went to his apartment. The door was wide open and loud chatter could be heard from down the hallway. Ryo carefully walked forward stopping just before the doorway.

"…Okay well what about this 'monster'?" Ryo heard a gruff man speak.

Aimi's sniffling could be heard as well, "W-Well it was black, with these…"

"Yuuma, we're not getting anywhere!" A second voice said.

"Let the lady speak!" The first voice barked back, "Okay what was that about the monster again?"

"I-It…" Aimi stopped. She saw a glimpse of Ryo's head before he receded again. "U-Um…"

The men took notice of Aimi's gaze, "Is there somebody there?" The second voice called.

Ryo appeared from the left of the doorway and walked inside. He sat next to Aimi dropping his book bag and staring at the two police officers. They wore the generic blue suits, complete with shiny gold badges, flat-top hats, and a wire cascading down their chests to a microphone. The first one had a wrinkled and aged face, but still very serious and determined. The second was a younger and skinnier-looking man. "Who are you?" The first one, with the gruff voice, said with a harsh tone.

Aimi spoke up, "This is my brother, Ryo. He was there on the night of the incident." Aimi still looked a bit shock, but cleaned up well over the day. Her tone was still shaky though and eyes were milky and red.

"Ah, good we need to ask you some questions too." The first officer said, "I am Officer Ikeda. My partner and I are here to ask you about the incident that occurred on the night of the 16th. Your sister has been very kind in detailing everything that's happened. Now from what she said, is it true that you two were having an argument that night?"

Ryo looked away, "Yes."

"Good, now did anything happen after she left?" Officer Ikeda continued. Ryo recalled back to the text message, but remained quiet, knowing they wouldn't believe him. Instead, he shook his head and averting his eyes. "Hmm… Okay that's fine."

The second officer tapped Ikeda on the shoulder, "Hey, we gotta get going. I told you coming here was a waste of time!"

"Hold on!" Ikeda said and turned toward the twins again, "Listen, I don't what's going on, but I don't believe you kids are guilty. For right now we have to leave the case open. Now I'm assigning you both therapists to try and get information and calm the situation. You're first appointment is at this location just after school for you guys on the 19th." He handed them two business cards with the information he just said. "Remember to go, if you don't we have to take you to the appointment ourselves." Ikeda got up and talked to the other officer for a minute and then looked back, "You two kids have a nice night! We'll be back soon, maybe then we'll get better information." With that the two policemen left the apartment.

Just as fast as the officers left, a new presence stomped up and slammed his fist on the closed door. "I KNEW YOU DAMN KIDS WERE NOTHING BUT TROUBLE! WHERE THE HELL IS MY MONEY!" He continued to slam on the door, and Aimi grabbed onto Ryo's arm tightly and pressed her face against his sleeve.

"Just wait okay! We'll have it by midnight!" Ryo stated, not knowing if that was true.

"GOOD THAT'S JUST ENOUGH TIME TO PACK YOUR BAGS. ROTTON-ASS KIDS BRINGGING THE COPS IN HERE!" The landlord finally stomped away grumbling underneath his breath.

Aimi looked up at Ryo, "I-Is he gone?" She was trying desperately to speak while crying, but failing miserably. "I-I think there's a job opening tonight, check the table."

Ryo looked over and saw a small newspaper add. She was right! There was a bar hiring 16-year olds with no background check or anything, it would also pay just enough for the rent. Ryo left the room and got his things ready to go, he checked the location, and it wasn't that far from home which is good. Before Aimi knew it, Ryo was gone.

**[Fujihara Apartment – Crow's Tavern]**

Like the name suggested, this bar was dark. Ryo had to be guided by the few lights alongside the walls. He quickly found the manager and asked about the position. Ryo was immediately put behind the counter with only two rules: 1. No Drinking the Merchandise and 2. Get Customers Whatever They Wanted. He was given an apron to wear until he could get his real suit. Work began slowly, no one coming in or out. Most of the people already inside were half-asleep or severely drunk. Ryo began to clean the counter to try and get on his boss' good side until a lone man walked up. He had bags underneath his eyes and a cigarette in his mouth. He had messy black hair with a leather jacket on. His gaze was quickly moving, from the alcohol to Ryo then back. The man slumped down in a bar seat and waved his hand for Ryo.

"You must be new here…" The man commented when Ryo came, "Probably don't know how to make shit; just get me some sake…" Ryo quickly did as he was asked and thee man gulped it all down. "Ugh… What're you staring at! Get me another glass!" Ryo took it the empty glass and quickly refilled it for the man. Instead of staying there, Ryo continued to clean the counter. After a couple hours, the man left without leaving a tip for Ryo. At 11 o' clock, he left with that night's pay, 1,600 yen, with both Aimi and Ryo's savings it was enough to pay rent. He rushed home to make it before midnight, determined and strong.

When the leader got to the complex, the front door was locked as usual. It stays open until 10, after that point, people would have to stay somewhere else for the night. Ryo began to bang as hard as he could on the metallic door, but it fell on deaf ears. After five minutes of waiting, Ryo took a small rock and threw it up to his and Aimi's apartment. The brunette stuck her head out to find her brother. "Oh my god! Thank god you're here!" She called down, "Hold on, I'll let you in." Ryo waited by the door for another few minutes while listening to Aimi and the land-lord's fight. The door eventually opened and Ryo strode confidential inside. He walked up to the land lord, who was doing some filing, and slammed the money on his desk.

The land lord looked down and snorted. He took the money quickly and counted it up. "1,600… Not enough!" He spat. Aimi then walked up with another wad of yen and handed it to him. He counted that as well, "Fine… You can both stay here… You're damn lucky that that frickin' orphanage is paying me to keep you…" Ryo and Aimi were taken back at the comment. "Get outta here! Your power and water will be on tomorrow!" The land lord grumbled on as the twins walked back up to their apartment. Tension was lifted from the atmosphere; both of them could get some needed sleep.

**February 18, 2018 – Tuesday [Jundo Street, Morning]**

Aimi and Ryo were walking toward school in the new routine they had adopted. Aimi still didn't look like herself, but she couldn't afford to miss another day. Michio walked up to the twins as they walked. "Hello Aimi, are you feeling any better?" He asked.

"Y-Yes, thank you." Aimi responded.

"That is great! Well I will fill you in on the meeting we had yesterday after classes." Michio offered.

"No thanks… Bro already told me…" Aimi looked up at Ryo and he nodded to Michio.

"That is good; well I still cannot decipher the code that was sent to us." Michio explained, "I will keep trying though. We should also be more careful of what we do with that message. It is the clue we have currently." Aimi and Ryo nodded and the three walked toward school together.

**February 18, 2018 – Tuesday [Class 2-F, After School]**

Ryo began to pack up his things as the class ended. Aimi walked over and greeted her brother. "Hey, I'm going to go home. I don't care if you go out though, j-just be home soon, okay?" Aimi then left for home.

Ryo got up and began to ponder his next move. He remembered the plaza where he got some ice cream with Michio and Takeo and decided to head there.

**February 18, 2018 – Tuesday [Fujihara Apartment, Night]**

Ryo returned home after trying the mystery flavor at the ice-cream parlor. Today's flavor was earwax which sickened Ryo to his stomach, but he felt a bit more courageous after the ordeal. When he opened the door he found a brightly lit apartment, and for once, a smiling Aimi. She was eating a cup of ramen while watching a soap-opera. "Welcome back!" She called.

Ryo walked back up and sat next to next to her at the dinner table. "You seem a lot better!" Ryo commented.

"Yeh, well I think it's because of getting the TV back on. I've missed sooo much of my shows. I've been able to catch up on it and that made me feel a bit better." Aimi looked genuinely happy, nothing like she was a couple days ago. "Oh, I also made you some dinner." She pushed another cup of ramen towards Ryo. He was about to scarf it down, but his stomach rejected the delicious noodles.

"S-Sorry, I had some bad ice cream," Ryo tried to explain while gagging, "I'm gonna go to bed."

"'Kay!" Aimi said understandingly. She then took the extra cup and began eating it herself. Ryo rolled his eyes and went into his small room. He was relieved that he could finally plug in his PSV for the next day. For once, he felt like nothing had happened, and maybe everything would be alright.

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><p><em>Well no new reviews last time, but thank you everyone who put this in your story subscriptions. Not much else to put down here... :_


	10. Chapter 10 Strange Happenings

_Hey, hey, hey! I'm back... again! I'm sorry for not uploading in a couple months but school ended, personal problems, computer getting viruses, volunteer work, and mostly a lack of motivation. I've tried many times to write this chapter, but something would always happen. (Ex. Microsoft Word crashing, me forgetting to save) Anyways, I switched to LibreOffice, so maybe that will be better then the outdated Word I had. Please read and review, I hope you enjoy!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 10 – Strange Happenings<strong>

**February 19, 2018 – Wednesday [Jundo Street, Morning]**

Ryo and Aimi were walking towards CHAS the next morning. They both felt a lot better than they had yesterday morning, as Ryo was now playing his PSV, while Aimi began humming her favorite song. Takeo then walked up to the twins, his eyes looked blank and cold.

"T-Takeo? What's the matter?" Aimi asked forgetting about her song for a moment.

Takeo didn't respond at first but slowly began to speak, "M-My parents got m-mad at me last night. They said I can't hang out with you guys anymore… M-Mom said she was 'disappointed in me'."

Ryo walked over and patted the burly teen on his back, "It's okay, they're just a little upset, that's all!"

"I-I know, but h-how come I can't even spend time with Michio-sensei?" Takeo asked, "The r-rest of the night, t-they were screaming and yellin'! And it's all because of me!"

"Don't think like that!" Aimi said forcefully, "We all know what happened, and whatever people want to make of it is their decision." A tear formed in Takeo's eye, and he ran toward the school building. Ryo shook his head in disappointment and walked off as well.

**February 19, 2018 – Wednesday [Classroom 2-C, After School]**

The bell rang, sounding off that the classes had finished. Ryo rose from his seat about ready to leave when Aimi walked up, "We have to go to that doctor's appointment, remember? I still have the card, let's go." Ryo nodded and the twins set off from school.

Ryo and Aimi went into downtown looking at the GPS on their phones trying to find this place. Eventually, they came across a small building with a metallic gold plating saying, _'Dr. Hasegawa & Co. Trained Psychiatrists Department.'_ They stared at the door for a few seconds not knowing what to do. Aimi began to reach toward the door and turn the knob. Slowly the door opened to a small, quiet room, containing only a desk with a secretary behind it tapping some keys on a computer. It was entirely a light brown color and felt uncomfortable to be in. "May I help you two?" The secretary asked without looking away from the screen.

"Yes, we are here for an appointment." Aimi responded, not knowing what else to say.

"Alright, what is it? Relationship counseling?" The secretary asked.

"N-No! We're brother and sister! We have a court-mandated appointment!" Aimi raised her voice and her face grew red from embarrassment.

The secretary swiveled around, more interested now, "Oh… You're **those** kids… Okay well right this way." The twins followed the secretary down the hallway and stopped at a mahogany door, "Aimi, your doctor is in here," Aimi walked through the door silently. Ryo continued to follow until he got to a door at the end of the hallway; it said _'Dr. Hasegawa's Office'_ on it. "And you are here. Good luck!" The secretary walked off. Ryo walked inside the room and found a man, that looked a lot like Mr. Itou, but with less hair and small reading glasses.

The psychiatrist looked up at Ryo, "Ah hello, Mr. Fujihara" He greeted. He had his arms crossed like he was expecting Ryo for a long time. "Please, sit down. I am Dr. Hasegawa, I am going to help you through any ordeals you may have." Ryo slumped down on the couch. Dr. Hasegawa sat across from him being separated by a small coffee table. "Now I know you may have some concerns with 'jail' and 'criminal records' but I believe with these sessions we can prove that you're innocent! I know you and your friends didn't do anything, why? Because people have a tendency to forget things after traumatic events. I believe that is what happened to you, and you filled in the blank spaces with those wild fairy tales."

Ryo blinked, _"Maybe that's what actually happened. I never thought about it before… -No! What I saw is what I saw…"_ Ryo shook his head. He leaned forward in his seat thinking momentarily, "That can't be true." Ryo stated calmly.

"Ah! I love bets! Let's make one! I bet you that you are blocking something subconsciously! How are we going to find out? With a little device I made myself!" The psychiatrist smiled and walked over to a table on the far end of the room. He uncovered something hidden by a large, white cloth, revealing it to be a device with wires sticking out, a computer screen, and some head gear attached to a cord. He brought the heavy object over to the small coffee table and dropped it. "Ugh I'm sorry, but may I use you as my guinea pig? You see I love to tinker, and with this job, I get plenty of free time to craft things just like this to help people like you!" Dr. Hasegawa handed Ryo the metallic headgear and several smaller pieces attached to wires themselves. "With this, the Hypnos, I can use your brain's electronic signals to graph out binary code, from which I can create clear pictures that reside deep within your mind! Hee hee, ooh I'm getting all gitty!"

Ryo backed away, "W-Wait, you want to hook this up to me!"

"Do not worry! It is not going to harm you. Just relax…" Dr. Hasegawa said and then put the device on Ryo's head. He attached the other devices to his temples and his wrists. "Now take a deep breath. The monitors on your wrists are to check your pulse. Your heart rate may affect the experiment." The psychiatrist flipped on the large machine and the screen grew light-blue; he tapped some keys and the screen turned black with many numbers appearing. "Okay, give me a few seconds. For now, try to think back to that night, and try to focus on your friend's death. As hard as that may be."

Ryo couldn't get comfortable because the cords prevented him from leaning back. Instead he sat up straight and took a deep breath. The leader cleared his mind, making sure that this man could get little information about his personal life. If this did work, he didn't want the doctor to see anything except what mattered. Ryo thought back to the night, the green-gridded sky, the burned remains of Chichibu, the alien-looking creature, Charon, and… The two beings that mauled Hikari. A few seconds passed in silence. Eventually Dr. Hasegawa tapped some more keys until the screen changed once again. This time it was filled with 0's and 1's in different colored sections.

"Yes!" Dr. Hasegawa exclaimed, "It actually worked! Alright, now I can translate out this code into a picture!..." Another few seconds passed, "This is… odd. There seems to be some sort of disruption…" He tapped a few more keys and stared intensely at the screen. "What is this…?" Dr. Hasegawa mumbled, he checked the cables and receded back to the screen.

Ryo began to hear a familiar growl in the back of his head. _"Charon?"_ He asked. Charon snorted, and it somehow eased Ryo to hear the noisy monster.

"You may want to see this…" Dr. Hasegawa said and turned the screen around. At first, all Ryo could make out were very small 0's and 1's, but he looked at the bigger picture and saw a figure. The figure that dwells in the back of his mind.

"Charon…" Ryo whispered to himself.

Dr. Hasegawa noticed, "Y-You know this… thing?" he asked.

Ryo swallowed hard. "It's like my other self." He stated without taking his eyes off the screen. There, Charon stood, his muscular, beetle-like body slowly moving with as it breathed. It knew Ryo and the psychiatrist were watching it, so it watched them as well, its red, beady eyes piercing like daggers.

"T-This is incredible! I-I have to rush these findings to some sort of research group!" Dr. Hasegawa attached a cord to the machine as he exclaimed. He hit a key, and a page began to print on his small printer. "Mr. Fujihara, you are dismissed. We shall meet again next week, same time." He got up, practically skipping into another office. Ryo shrugged. He suddenly felt very uncomfortable knowing that Charon has been, and probably still is, watching him. He got up and ran out the door.

**February 19, 2018 – Wednesday [Fujihara Apartment, Late Night]**

The door slowly creaked open as Aimi poked her head in. Her session got out very late because of an argument she and her doctor had. To her surprise, she found Ryo watching TV with all the lights turned off. He looked over at Aimi for a second, and then back at the screen. "You're home late." He stated.

"S-Sorry bro, my doctor was being a real asshole. A bit of a pervert too." She said while sitting down next to Ryo and discovered he was watching the Midnight Monster Movie that was on every night. Ryo seemed a bit unfazed by the decapitations of the people on screen. "Anyways, how was your meeting?"

"Alright." Ryo replied smoothly. He decided to not worry his sister even more by telling her what really happened.

"Okay... Bro, I'm sorry for how I acted that night... It was just so frustrating, you know? Now I just can't help but think, if I hadn't left that night, maybe Hikari wouldn't have died." Aimi looked seriously at Ryo when she spoke. She sighed and got off the couch, "I'm going to bed; I need to sleep for the next couple days..." She shuffled back to her room, and a few minutes later so did Ryo. What Aimi had said really got him thinking of what exactly had triggered the event.

_"Was it something we did? Why were the others there then? Maybe it was just a random coincidence... Wait, what about that text message? We all got one except for Aimi, and I forget if Hikari did or not. That must have something to do with it-"_ Ryo checked to clock to find that it was nearly 2 AM, and remembered he had to be in school the next day.

**February 20, 2018 – Thursday [Class 2-C, Lunchtime]**

The lunch bell had just rang and Ryo was getting his stuff together. Michio appeared out of the corner of his eye, indicating that he wanted to talk. "There is going to be a meeting again after school, make sure you guys are there." Michio looked at Aimi as well who just began listening.

"A meeting?" She asked, "You mean-"

"Yes, The Golden Heart Hunters do indeed have a case, but first we need to talk about that night and your experiences. Katsumi agreed to join us again." Michio answered.

Ryo spoke up, "What about Takeo?"

"Hm? He'll be there like always." Michio looked at Ryo with confusion. Ryo shook his head. "Anyways, Viper refused, as expected, because of what happened last session. That is right, Aimi, our first case is Viper by the way."

Aimi looked displeased, "Alright..."

Viper walked into the classroom late as usual. He had bags underneath his eyes and looked like he was about to take someone's head off. He slumped down in his seat and noticed the three individuals talking. No one decided to even glance at Viper when he walked. Soon everyone from the halls began to filter in because lunch was drawing to a close.

"Man... Lunch is over already." Aimi complained. Katsumi with a band of girls walked in and they took there seats.

"We'll talk more about this later," Michio started. Takeo then walked in and took his seat as well.

Suddenly, Ryo felt something warm in his pocket. He reached inside quickly and found something all too familiar.

"What's the matter, bro?" Aimi asked. Both of them quickly looked over at Ryo, whose face grew with panic.

In his hand, Ryo held the tamogachi-like device from that night. The one he used to summon Charon. The one that saved them from the alien creature. He could still remember the feeling he had vividly. That burning sensation. His hands shook almost dropping it. Ryo looked it over, a gray device with glowing buttons, and a little screen with pixels that formed the word 'WARNING'. One button was flashing, the picture on it had an elliptical-shaped hole with an arrow going through it. Ryo looked up and saw that the other two were confused of what was going on.

Ryo tried to speak, but he couldn't focus. "What s that?" Michio asked trying to calm Ryo down.

Instead of speaking, Ryo held it up so they could see. He suddenly heard some other students speak, "Hey is that a tamogachi?" A gossip-loving girl asked.

"Does the new kid not know that they're banned?" Another noisy girl said.

"I don't get it," Aimi responded, "What does 'WARNING' mean?" Ryo brought it closer to him once again looking at it intensely. He wanted to throw it on the ground and stomp on it so hard, but his body wouldn't do it. Instead his thumb reached for the blinking button.

The entire class' attention was caught now, even Viper who tried to get a good glimpse of the device. Katsumi smirked waiting for Ryo to get in trouble, while Takeo got up trying to warn Ryo.

Ryo finally made contact with the button after what seemed like forever. With the slightest push, the device screen went blank and a series of numbers and algorithms shot out in a ring blinding everyone. Ryo found himself in a destroyed and charred version of his homeroom class. With him was Aimi, Michio, Takeo, Katsumi, and Viper... Just like the last time. He looked up to the sky to find a light-green grid. Behind it, looming over the students, was a small, barren planet.


	11. Chapter 11 Disorientation

_Hey everybody! ProjectSonizard back with another chapter. This one is alot bigger than most of my other chapters so far. Please Read & Review, Critisicim welcome!_

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><p><strong>Chapter 11 – Disorientation<strong>

**February 20, 2018 – Thursday [CHAS - ?, Lunchtime]**

Ryo dropped to his knees, not only the new weight upon his back caused it, but also that he was back **here**. Time slowed down for just a second. Ryo's mind went blanked as he processed what he was seeing. He thought he heard Katsumi scream, and Takeo crying, but he wasn't sure. For some reason he could still not let go of the device in his hand. _"W-Why is this happening?"_ Ryo thought. He shook his head violently trying to convince himself that he wasn't there, but the dry, smokey air and intense pressure contradicted that.

For a second Ryo thought he heard someone's calling out to him, but he ignored it. Until that person shook Ryo snapping him out of his spell. "Ryo! Come on, we need you!" Michio yelled trying to get Ryo's attention. Once Michio saw Ryo's eyes look at him, he sighed with relief. "Thank goodness you are alright! I thought you may have snapped... Which is understandable."

"What the hell is going on!" Katsumi shouted frantically. Takeo continued to cry while Aimi stood frozen.

"GOD DAMMIT!" Viper cursed as he punched the wall, almost breaking it into ashes, "WHY ARE WE HERE!"

Michio stepped up, "Stop! If we all calm down we can think about this more clearly!"

"WHAT'S THERE TO THINK ABOUT!," Viper screamed his response, "WE'RE GOING TO DIE HERE! THIS IS THE EXACT SAME SITUATION AS BEFORE GOD DAMMIT!"

At that moment, Takeo rose and punched Viper across the face as hard as he could. Viper fell down in pain as Takeo stood over. "STOP YELLIN'!" He shouted as he bawled.

Everyone stood quiet for a second as they tried to gather their thoughts. Ryo looked around on last time to confirm the situation. The sky was crimson red now with no clouds in sight. Class 2 – C looked as if it was resting on top of a broken support beam disconnected from the rest of the school building. Everything around them was burned and charred with numbers slowly floating from ruins like last time. The air was still dusty and he could smell a fire somewhere. Aimi eventually spoke up which surprised everyone, "W-We need to find some way out."

"Oh yeah, like we could just do that!" Katsumi retorted in her usual snobby tone.

"Let us stop and think," Michio began, "How did we get back last time?" Everyone thought for a moment.

"We killed that thing." Ryo stated, trying to help out now; his mentality may have been weak, but he would do anything to get back home.

"Right, so maybe we are here for a reason, like to do something similar." Michio paced about frantically. The classroom was now empty, except with broken pieces of desks strewn about. Ryo gazed up at the planet as it seemed to approach closer and closer. He could look at the sky because the roof of the classroom was missing and pieces of it could be found in the corners. Inspecting the planet closer, he felt like he'd seen it before.

"Michio," Ryo called which made the scholar stop and look, "do you know what planet that is in the sky?"

Everyone looked up at the object Ryo spoke of. Michio swallowed hard but slowly started, "I-It looks like... Mercury maybe? If I recall, Mercury looks like a moon because of all the craters on it." Ryo now noticed the vast numbers of craters on it. "Why do you want to know, Ryo-kun?"

Ryo thought for a second, "Just wondering I guess... I felt like I knew it."

"Ah enough with this mierda," Viper cut in, his eye was now black thanks to Takeo's punch, "We can't stand around like this anymore. We need to do something to get us out."

"Alright, how about we send out some... expedition?" Aimi offered. "Like... Bro, Michio, and Viper can go; Takeo you can stay with Katsumi-chan and I so we can look around for supplies if we have to stay here for a while."

"No way chica, I'm not going out there!" Viper replied.

"Listen Viper, we want to leave as much as you do, so you gotta-" Katsumi said as her voice slowly rose.

"That's okay," Takeo interrupted, "I wanna go with 'em." The tears on Takeo's face continued to stream but he wasn't ready to give up. "I wanna make sure Sensei is okay."

"Takeo-kun... Are you sure about this? We do not know if we will come across more of those monsters." Michio questioned carefully.

In response, Takeo went to the corner and held up a large piece of concrete that would be too much for anyone but him. "I'm sure!"

Michio looked at Ryo who nodded back at him. "Alright, but be careful okay?" Michio looked around and picked up a long, rusty pipe from the open hole in the class that revealed plumbing underneath. Ryo got a piece of sharp metal from a broken desk; it would not cut his palm due to it being smoother near the end.

Before they left, Aimi ran up to Ryo and hugged him. "Bro, please... Come back safe..." She whispered.

Ryo broke the embrace but gave a rare smile to his sister, "I promise." With that the three friends opened the charred door to the rest of the school building and left.

From the classroom was a long purplish hallway that was dimly lit by lights that were barely being held up by very thin cables. It all seemed very dream-like, the walls were elongated and the groups vision was cut of by some kind of smog. Ryo was surprised, this school was quite the contraste from the consistent fiery ruins he's seen up until now. The pressure and thick air still remained however making the near impossible. As the three pushed on, the discovered that the hallways of their school building somehow redesigned themselves to become more labyrinth-like. Lockers have been knocked down, doors to other room were sideways or upside-down, and the floor was a mess with broken tile pieces.

While exploring, Takeo stopped for a second, "Do you hear that?" The others paused as well.

"Hear what, Takeo?" Michio questioned. Takeo hushed Michio as the three began to listen. Other than the flickering lights, nothing could be heard...

_"Wait,"_ Ryo thought, _"What was that?"_ He thought he heard it a very faint banging and rattling could be heard far off. "I think I hear it." Ryo said to the group.

"So do I. It sounded like it came from over here." Michio explained as he continued on. As they walked, the sounds got louder and louder. Nearing the source, Michio stopped and turned around after contemplating, "What if it is one of those monsters?"

Ryo stopped. He hadn't thought about that before. Images of that night flashed in his mind once again. He reached in his pocket for the device that brought them here. Could he summon Charon again? Does he even want to? The sensation, but with it came pain he remembered. "Let me lead." Ryo offered. The others looked at him funny; Ryo always knew he wasn't the strongest person, in fact he's actually incredibly skinny, but he knew that he could fend off the monsters better than anyone else. "If those things are there, I can take 'em with this." He pulled out his device to show.

Takeo grumbled something, but nodded. Michio looked around hesitantly. Ryo brushed past the two before they rounded a corner revealing the source of the sound. All that was down the hallway were more toppled lockers and an up-right door which had a plaque that read 'Janitor's Closet'.

The banging came from inside of there along with small yells. "HELP!" A voice screamed. The three ran forward answering the pleas. "Oh thank god someone's here! Please, get me out!"

"Just wait 'ta second, we'll get this door open." Takeo said who first tried the doorknob, but found it to be stuck. He then started to tackle it with his shoulder; ordinary wood door was somehow be made of steel now.

As Takeo continued his assault, Michio began to talk to the person inside. "H-How did this happen?"

"T-There was this flash of light and e-everyone just disappeared! I-I got so scared so I ran in here to hide cuz I saw these things down the hall, but the door locked itself!" The person explained.

Michio paused, "Has this happened to you before?"

"Y-Yes! The first time, there was this loud booming voice, and an explosion. I thought a nuke hit the town or somethin'!"

"Listen no nuke hit obviously, and we are going to get you out, okay? My name is Michio Shimizu, and the one banging on the door is Takeo Kimura, and there is also Ryo Fujihara. What is your name?"

"I-I know you guys! You're those chitsus from the other day!"

"Chitsu?" Ryo repeated. "Are you Isao? The one who gave me 300 yen?"

"Y-Yeah, what about it?" Isao replied, "J-Just get me out of here!"

Takeo collapsed after five minutes of giving it his all. "N-No good Sensei; the door isn't going 'nywhere!" he panted heavily and grasped his shoulder which was in extreme pain.

"That is fine Takeo-kun, just stay here and rest, Ryo and I will go to the faculty office to get the janitor's keys and we will come right back!" Michio said sympathetically and then looked at Ryo, "We have to hurry, I know the faculty office is on the first floor."

The two ran off looking for a stairwell of some kind. After a minute, they found a giant hole in the ground with a pile of rubble, conveniently creating steps. When they descended, the two noticed how much easier to navigate on this floor than the previous one. Not a minute had passed before they found an up-side down door labeled _'Faculty Office'_. Ryo tried to open it but the door refused to open. "Dammit, jammed!" Ryo cursed.

"Shit, we have to think of something; those monsters Isao saw could be anywhere!" Michio looked around trying desperately to think of a plan. Ryo knocked on the door, and unlike the other door which made a metallic sound, this one actually sounded like wood.

Something occurred to Ryo, within a second he raised the piece of metal he had held and struck the door. It sliced through the door easily. Ryo then pulled it out and kicked in the door, breaking it. Michio looked awe-struck, "H-How did you do that?"

"...I just did, now come on!" Ryo replied. They rushed in and checked multiple toppled desks, sometimes breaking them open. "Guh, no luck. How about you?"

"Nothing over here." Michio called from the other end of the room. Unnoticed, a shadowy figure lurked along them. It stayed in the corner stalking it's prey as they searched the room. Michio was busy near that end when he opened a draw to find a lone set of keys accompanied by several piles of ashes, presumably papers. "I found them!" He rose triumphantly, his back was turned. This was the chance. It struck.

Ryo had only just noticed the figured now, but it was too late. It grappled Michio's back and started to claw at him. The figure was another black, humanoid figure, except it wasn't drenched with sludge. This time it appeared dressed with a fine fabric of some kind. Almost like a suit, but much more demonic. Its body seemed infused with the fabric which showed a very bland pattern of lines and circles. Near its head, the fabric connected to a golden ring locked around its neck. The mask it wore was also different. This time it was blue with two big, round eye holes. It was almost completely flat except for a long nose that slightly protruded out. It had an open mouth and the Roman numeral for one on its forehead.

The creature tore Michio's uniform and sliced deep wounds as it clawed. All that could be heard were Michio's agonizing cries. Ryo rushed forward and sliced through the creature with his sharp blade. It lurched away and made a blood-curdling screech, nearly shattering the eardrums of the two. Within mere seconds several creatures erupted from the walls, surrounding them. They all looked exactly like the first one, with their blue masks and gangly bodies.

Ryo realized the only thing that could save them. He quickly reached down in his pocket for the device. His hand shook violently as he raised it. _"Why? Why do I have to use this again? I-I..."_ Ryo's thought was cut off by Michio who began to stand.

"Don't worry, I have your back." Michio said. He held up his weapon and looked at Ryo

Ryo was surprised but could see the determination in his eyes. They were in this together. Ryo extended the device, held down the button, and slid it through the air. The light green line of numbers, almost transparent, appeared one again. He released the button and the stream shattered, creating shards of glass in its wake. A blue light arose around Ryo. Out from his shadow came the beetle-like figure Charon. Ryo's eyes became bloodshot, and he could hear a massive ringing in his ears. The burning-up sensation.

Ryo screamed but he wasn't deterred. He rushed in, Charon in toe. They swung around madly, destroying the shadowy beings one after the other. Michio ran in as well, stabbing a creature in the heart. Unfortunately, he had no effect and it just ripped the pipe out of its body.

Michio panicked, he tried to punch one of the beasts, but to no avail. It grabbed his arm as the other pounced. Ryo looked over and saw Michio. "NO!" He screamed as he raced over.

Life just stopped. Michio's heart seized. _"This is it..."_ He thought, _"This is my end. Dying like Hikari to a pack ravenous monsters..." _His life flashed before his eyes. All the feelings, accomplishments, and disappointments came flooding back.

Life then continued. The creatures now piled on Michio, but a ray of blue light enveloped them all. The creatures instantly disintegrated into black dust that drifted off. Charon finally looked over as well to witness the spectacle. In the light, Michio got up and held out his own device. It looked almost identical to Ryo's except it was smoother and it looked as if all the different attachment's on Ryo's were neatly under a blue piece of coating. The buttons seemed smoother and it fitted into Michio's palm perfectly, unlike Ryo who constantly had trouble holding his in one hand.

Michio held down a button on the side of his device and waved it in front of himself. Instead of Ryo, who just made a straight horizontal line, Michio made is line almost as if he was writing his name in mid-air. The motions were extremely fast; before anyone could notice, a word made of numbers and algorithms hung in the air. And just like that, it shattered into glass shards. A stronger blue light shined once again, except this time a figure faded into reality.

The figure was sitting like he was meditating. It wore a garb that resembles that of a monk's and rosary beads around its neck. The actual body seemed... Robotic. It was made up of several different metallic parts that clung together. It had a head, but no facial features except a nose and the kanji for 'Mind'. In one hand it held a lotus flower delicately.

A clear and serene voice echoed, _"No longer shall you travel down the path of strife alone, for I am Sakyamuni, the wise."_

"Now! Sakyamuni!" Michio commanded, and in response, Sakyamuni carefully rose his lotus flower and water suddenly erupted out of nowhere. It rushed past the remaining creatures, destroying most of them and knocking down the rest. Ryo took his chance; he screamed and Charon roared in sync releasing a wave of purple energy, vanquishing more of them.

Michio and Ryo's eyes locked, "This is our chance to go all-out!" The scholar commented.

"Let's do this." Ryo ordered smoothly. The next second, the two along their Personas, dog-piled the enemies, slashing jabbing whatever they could. A giant cloud of dust was kicked up during this action and nothing could be seen during their rampage, only the sounds of metal piercing skin and the cries of the creatures Soon, one by one they fell and Charon and Sakyamuni finished it off with an explosion caused by a collision the two had. When the dust finally settled, nothing remained except for the two 'prey'.

Both manifestations soon receded into nothingness after wards. Ryo was about to collapse from exhaustion when Michio caught him. "Whoa, come on Ryo, we still have to get these keys back to Isao before more monsters show up."

Ryo slowly nodded, "Alright, but how come you aren't tired?"

"... I do not know, in fact, I feel a hundred times better!" Michio answered

Ryo took a moment to process this. "Okay, let's get going then." He said weakly. The two ran back toward Isao and Takeo, trying desperately to find the stairs. When they reach the second floor, a loud wail echoed through the hallways. "That was Aimi!"

"Damn, we have to be fast!" Michio said. Once they reached the closet, Michio immediately tried the keys.

"Yes, you found it! But you guys were gone for a while..." Takeo grieved, "And there have been some screams 'n stuff..."

"No time to explain Takeo-kun," Michio replied finally finding the necessary key. The door unlocked and swung open. From it fell a curly red-haired student gasping for air. He coughed once or twice as he got up and looked at his saviors.

"Ohmygod, thank you guys soooooo much!" Isao said quickly, "If you guys EVER need anything, I'm your man!"

"That's great, but we need to get going!" Ryo interrupted.

"Of course!" Isao agreed happily. The new party of four made their way back to Class 2 – C as fast as they could. Ryo was the first to reach the door and slammed on it when it wouldn't open.

"GOD DAMMIT, LET ME IN!" Ryo commanded at the top of his lungs, startling everyone. To his surprise shuffling could be heard from behind the door. Soon, Viper opened the door with a relieved expression.

"Oh thank god you came! Get in here!" Viper pulled Ryo into an even more destroyed classroom. It almost resembled the faculty office when him and Michio left.

"W-What happened?" Ryo asked, his voice shaking.

"T-There were these... God damn! Your hermana killed these monsters that broke through the floor!" Viper spat out in a mixture of shame guilt, "I-I tried to take them out, b-but one nearly took off my arm!"

"Where is she!" Ryo demanded as he gripped Viper's collar, the punk weakly pointed to the corner where a teen in fetal position was.

Just now, the rest of the group entered the classroom, shocked by what they found. "Viper, what happened!" Michio asked sternly.

Ryo didn't pay much attention to them though, but he focused on his sister. There she lay, in the corner with her arms around her knees, sobbing very lightly. Her brown locks of hair were a mess and her eyes once again seemed emotionless.

"She did that thing you did... With the monster..." A voice said from behind Ryo. He turned around and saw Katsumi who looked bruised and battered. "If it weren't for her I'd be dead..."

Ryo looked back down, he now saw it. The device. Gripped firmly in her hand was the very device that him and Michio used to summon their Personas. Tears now fell from Ryo's eyes. _"Why? Why does my little sister have to be involved in this?"_ Ryo thought.

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><p><em>Raptured CHAS: Palmtree Panic Zone - Bad Future (Sonic CD JPN)<em>

_Fight Scene: Green Forest (Sonic Adventure 2, Just stating this again incase anyone forgot)_

_No reviews last time, but please keep reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter._


	12. Chapter 12 Persephone

_Alright! New chapter... No excuses this time, I just kinda stopped, but I really like writing this story. I really can't wait until story starts to pick up a bit more and I can introduce the Social Links. Also, it's video game season and I've been getting my fill of P4A, Pokemon BW2, and soon enough P4G! That's gonna preoccupy a lot of time... Anyways,_ I'll just say I've been working on a cover for this story and I was hope that it'll be done by the next chapter (Whenever that is). And I'll also be posting some concept artwork of characters on my DevientArt when I have free time maybe. Let me know if that__

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><p><strong>Chapter 12 – Persephone<strong>

**February 20, 2012 – Thursday [CHAS - ?, Afternoon]**

Ryo panicked. Everyone else stood there, not knowing what to say. Katsumi knelt and tried to comfort Ryo, "She really did save us, Ryo-kun... Viper, his leg almost got torn off. But Aimi came in at the last second and summoned that thing..."

Ryo reached down towards his sister; he moved her hands to show that along with the device, his precious baseball cap was clutched as well. Ryo jumped and checked his head; all he felt was dirty hair. Somehow he must have lost it, possibly in the battle? He then looked up at Katsumi, her eyes were tender and tears began to form. She was injured in several places including a long gash up her arm. "I couldn't see to well, but I think she got hurt too." Katsumi continued, "I'm so sorry, Ryo-kun."

"No... It's not your fault." Ryo replied. Katsumi still looked apologetic but now was more comforted. Ryo returned his line of sight to his sister. He slowly picked her up and found several cuts and bruises on her face. He rested her on a nearby wall and attempted to clear his mind.

"Bro?" I small voice squeaked. Instantly everyone looked up to see Aimi began to regain consciousness. Ryo became ecstatic and hugged his sister. She returned the hug slowly as she still processed everything. "Y-You're okay? I th-thought you were dead. One of those... Things came up here, and it h-held your stupid hat."

"Man we tuvimos suerte; thanks to you, we're all here." Viper chuckled.

"So Aimi-san can summon another being as well. That is interesting, because I attained that ability myself a few moments ago." Michio said.

Aimi shivered for a moment before breaking the embrace and looking down at the device. "Persephone..."

"Is that you're Persona's name Aimi?" Ryo asked thoughtfully.

"Y-Yeah... The monster they crawled around... Li-Like our own shadows... Persephone... Sh-She let me see them... My... Persona..." Aimi stuttered.

"What the hell is a Persona, Ryo?" Katsumi asked annoyed; everyone now looked at Ryo expecting an answer.

"Those things, they're called Personas," He spoke only loud enough for everyone to hear him. "They're like alternate versions of ourselves."

"Whoa, what's going on?" Isao asked completely confused, "What the hell are ya' talking about?"

"None of us understand it," Michio answered, "All we now is that some of us can summon these 'Personas' to combat monsters we find. But anyways, how do you know so much about this?"

_"I should tell them about the Velvet Room. Maybe they've experienced it too-"_ As that thought crossed Ryo's mind, a loud roar protested from Charon. _"I get it! Don't tell anyone, but why?"_ No reply came from Charon. _"Fine, maybe things are better left unsaid."_

Ryo cleared his throat, thinking of an excuse, "Something similar happened in this game I played."

"Yeah right-" Viper began but was pushed aside by Takeo.

"Ooh, ooh! What was that game called!?" Takeo asked excitedly.

"The name escapes me now, heh." Ryo nervously answered. Everyone now stared at him with cold, skeptical eyes.

"Right... Well whether or not that is true, we need to begin addressing the things we find." Michio pulled out a small notebook from inside his school uniform along with a pen, "I have a journal in which we can keep records of this world. I figure, this being our second time, that when we return to the normal world, we would at some point come here once again."

"So we're just calling them Personas?" Katsumi asked.

"Well, that is the thing Ryo said when he first summoned that beetle-thing." Viper recalled.

"Correct," Michio began jotting down some notes before continuing, "And if I recall correctly, the word 'Persona' means a façade a person uses when presented with demands of a situation. If what you said is true, then these Personas are who we are when confronted with these beasts."

"Those monsters we all saw... What do we call them?" Isao asked still not understanding fully.

"I think Aimi-san put it best when she said they were shadows. I haven't seen many but they were all dark and fa- fwe- fleh-" Takeo tried to summarize.

"Fleeting?" Corrected Michio.

"Yeah, that word! It means fast right?" Takeo inquired.

Everyone nodded. While Takeo celebrated about his growing vocabulary, the others looked towards the sky when the quite large planet began to glimmer.

"Eh, what's happening now?" Viper asked expecting an answer when the planet Mercury began to shrink in the crimson sky. It rapidly shrunk and passed through the green grid in the sky, dropping to Earth like a comet. The explosion that proceeded it was larger than the moon had made last time. More dust was kicked up, and high-power winds pushed the students into the walls. The entire classroom rattled and little pieces of debris fell off the walls. Everyone was too scared to do anything and waited for the atmosphere to return to normal.

Ryo coughed loudly as everyone gained composure. The dust had finally began to settle and the rocks on the ground stopped rolling. "That impact was worse than before." Isao commented.

Suddenly, the pressure became much more intense, and they all dropped to their knees. Takeo was the first to rise along with Viper, but the punk quickly fell again. Ryo soon followed helping Aimi and Katsumi up as well; the rest soon followed. "D-Do you think it'll be another one of... Those things?" Katsumi asked nervously.

"What things!?" Isao asked back frantically.

"Who knows," Michio answered ignoring the confused Isao. There was an uneasy moment of silence between the students. Isao stealthily took steps backwards.

"Bro," Aimi whispered to Ryo, "Persephone is talking to me, I-I think." There was a pause as she closed her eyes, and then she took out her Persona-summoning device. Her movement was fluid like Michio's; the stream of data moved along in a circular motion in front of her. The circle soon shattered and a blue light formed around Aimi.

Fading into existence was a tall, slender, female figure. It's chest was hallowed out and its body was broken up in fragments barely held together by loose bandages. Behind dirty and worn out hair was a blank face with only one peering green eye that stared into the soul of whatever living being it beheld. The body overall appeared quite doll-like with a disturbing, but perfect shape. Around Aimi were long bandages with a mask loosely hanging from it at eye-level. The mask was a reflective gold mask with the Roman numerals for twenty on its forehead; it's eyes were shaped in a way as if it looked down at you and the mouth was shut tight.

Everyone looked over at the deranged Persona as the blue light finally faded. Aimi's eyes shut firmly as she began to hum a mysterious tune. "There's a presence... Somewhere in the south-west." Aimi said firmly.

"How do you know that?" Michio asked skeptically.

Aimi opened her eyes to look at the scholar. "Persephone told me," She said, "She's always right."

"Of course, this is your Persona..." Michio stated the obvious. He studied Persephone, but stopped when the being redirected it's one eye towards him.

"She doesn't like that." Aimi stated, "Persephone says that the presence is evil. We should be careful." Michio took a few steps backward toward Ryo and began to jot down notes in his notebook.

"Well, can that bruja fea tell us anything about it?" Viper asked.

Persephone's eye redirected toward Viper, "She doesn't like that language, Viper-kun. She does say that it's body's small, but it gives off a lot of energy." Aimi answered, "Isn't Persephone the greatest?"

Viper stood terrified as Persephone soon receded back into nothingness. Aimi smiled and gripped her device tightly. Michio looked up from his journal and put it away before speaking, "Well if the faculty office is towards the north of the school building, then it is a safe assumption that the 'presence' is that way." Michio pointed at the purplish river that led up to the school.

"Man, Aimi-chan, you're Persona sure is scary," Takeo said to Aimi.

"Persephone isn't scary," Aimi sweetly replied, "She's very beautiful!"

"Well, what're we waiting for?" Viper questioned, "We should just get going. It's not like we're gonna go back if we stand around!"

Ryo nodded and looked around thinking of a way to safely guide everyone out of the school building when he noticed something off. "Where's Isao?"

The group looked around and apparently the red-head had taken off at some point. "What a little asshole!" Katsumi growled.

"Doesn't he know it's scary!" Takeo fretted.

"He's fine," Aimi interrupted with a small grin, "Persephone said so."

"Aimi, do you know when he left?" Ryo asked.

"It was probably when Persephone and I were talking..." Aimi answered.

"If he gets killed, than that's his fault," Viper callously said, "Right now I just wanna go home."

"There isn't any way down." Ryo responded.

"Hmph, you can thank ol' Viper for this but when that monster attacked, it left a huge hole in the side here!" Viper grinned as he revealed a chunk of the wall missing.

"Thank **you**? The thing that attempted to kill us helped more than you." Michio countered. Viper's grin instantly faded at the remark; he shook his head and walked away from the hole. Ryo walked up closer to inspect it and found footholds along the wall, perhaps used by the monster to climb up here.

_"This is perfect! All we have to do is climb down one by one and we should be able to reach ground."_ Ryo thought, but his wishful thinking disappeared when thinking more about the group. _"Shit... All the guys and Aimi can probably get down there okay, but Isao's out there somewhere, plus Katsumi's ankle might be hurting still."_

"Katsumi," Ryo began, "How's your ankle?"

"Huh?" Katsumi responded.

"Your ankle, does it still hurt?" Ryo asked a bit more impatient now.

"Oh... um... I can walk around fine, but it still hurts at times." Katsumi answered.

"I'm guessing you can't climb down walls than?"

"No... I can't run very fast either."

"Okay... Guys, you see those footholds?" Everyone else gathered around the hole.

"You mean those tiny ones?" Viper pointed out.

"Yes. Those are our ticket out of here." Ryo explained, "All we have to do is just climb down-"

"I-I can't!" Takeo interrupted, backing away from the rest of them. "I'm scared of heights!"

"Ugh... Takeo, please we need to get out of here." Michio reasoned, "Now is not the time to let your fears overcome you! Remember going out into the school? Staying by Isao-kun's side is one of the bravest things I have ever seen you do! If you are not afraid of monsters, than you should be able to climb down this."

Takeo choked up once again. Michio sighed and gazed around to the others, "You can go down. I will stay up here and get Takeo-kun to descend eventually."

Ryo nodded and gave a pleading look at Takeo who only shook his head. Ryo returned his attention to the task, "Okay, who's first?" He asked.

"Right here!" Already Viper was jumping down and grabbing one of the school's ledges.

"You're up sis." Ryo said to Aimi, she simply agreed and did the same, but made sure Viper didn't look up her skirt. Ryo now looked at Katsumi whose face was full of dread; he reluctantly began to speak, "If you don't think you can do this... You can grab onto me."

The female student looked up astonished at the offer. On normal circumstances, she would slap Ryo in the face, but now it looked as if she had no other choice. Ryo began to climb down inserting his foot into the first foothold. He than gestured to Katsumi to join him which she slowly accepted, her arms wrapped around Ryo's neck as he continued downwards. It was difficult now having twice the amount of normal pressure on top of him, but he bared through it making sure that Katsumi was safe.

This was the last thing Ryo wanted to do, especially since Katsumi only showed sympathy when- Suddenly Ryo's foot slipped causing the two dip down. Katsumi screeched and buried her head into Ryo shoulders. At the last second, Ryo stopped the fall by grabbing another foothold leaving them hanging in mid-air. Rubble along with the leader's hat fell down as a result. Now taking his time, Ryo continued to climb down once Katsumi calmed down.

The two got to the bottom and Katsumi quickly let go, blushing madly. Ryo wiped off some of the dust on his jacket and put his hat back on when Aimi came over. "You okay, Bro?" She asked sincerely.

Ryo chuckled, "Yeah, I'm fine. I just slipped that's all. I think Katsumi is the on you should be worried about."

"Hey, what's with the sudden shift in attitude, hombre?" Viper questioned, "You got something to tell us about what happened up there?" Viper grinned mischievously, when Katsumi walked past them all trying to break the conversation.

"Well, let's go!" Her usual tone returned, "We got something we have to kill right?"

"We have to wait for Michio-san and Takeo-kun; they won't take too long." Ryo reminded.

Katsumi cursed under her breath and sat down on a large piece of concrete. Minutes passed before Michio finally led Takeo down very slowly. They leapt off the walls a couple of feet off the ground and stumbled. Takeo quickly ran by shaking while Michio walked over to the group.

"Okay... So the presence is in the south-west?" Michio asked to confirm the situation. Aimi nodded in confirmation, "Good, if we see the garbage dump, than we know we are going the right way. Follow me," Soon enough the entire group began their trek across the barren, apocalyptic wasteland. It was vaguely similar to the normal Chichibu so the group knew somewhat where they were going. They followed the shoreline that Michio that connected many rivers in the area.

The air grew thicker and thicker with dust as they neared the crash site and the gravity was becoming more intense overtime as well. The group panted and was about ready to collapse by the time they found a large concrete bridge connecting an island to the mainland. From the distance, on the island was what seemed to be a large fortress of some kind made up of chain link fences and large structures of scrap metal. Fumes rise out of it while fire spurts from air vents to the side.

"...Is that the... Junk Yard?" Michio asked himself.

"It doesn't look like the Junk Yard I grew up seeing." Katsumi pointed out.

"Can someone tell me about this 'Junk Yard'?" Ryo asked impatiently.

"The Junk Yard is an old abandoned scrap and trash facility that has not been used since the late 60's, when we began to ship our scrap and garbage to a more industrial zone for recycling. The only reason the Junk Yard has stuck around is because the island it was built on is mostly composed of very sensitive sandstone that would be too dangerous to work on top of." Michio explained, "Now the Junk Yard is a major landmark in town, but it is only visible if you are along the coast."

"Yeah, yeah... I heard about this thing," Viper chimed in, "That ecology club is always trying to get us to sign a petition to get rid of it. They say it's hazardous to the environment."

"Yeah right," Katsumi sighed, "The only hazardous thing about it is how much of an eyesore it is. Like Michio said, it hasn't been used in over 50 years, nothing is being done over there, and we took out all the garbage on it."

"Th-Then why is it on fire?" Takeo asked.

"I do not know..." Michio answered and began to rub his chin in thought.

Aimi closes her eyes and opens them once again, "Persephone says the dark being is inside."

The group swallowed hard, the Junk Yard had an ominous presence to it and the fumes clouded the air around it. Takeo shook his head, "Nuh-uh, I'm not gonna go!"

Everyone looked at him with annoyed expressions, except Michio who was more sympathetic. "Stay calm Takeo-kun, you can stay here."

"What?" Katsumi questioned.

Michio turned his attention to the female student, "Well think about it, only those with Personas should enter. If there are any monsters or another on of those aliens in there, we do not want something bad to happen to one of us like..." Michio stopped and looked down.

Ryo nodded, "Good idea, it'll just be me and Michio-san. Aimi, you stay here, got it?"

"Okay, but Persephone is going to keep an eye on you two okay?" Aimi reasoned.

"It can do that?" Viper asked astonished.

"Yes- I mean no- Well, Persephone can't really watch you per say, she just knows what's happening and tells me." She looks around before continuing, "And she tells me that I can actually talk to you too! I just need to focus really hard."

"Well isn't that nifty!" Viper laid back on the ground and looked up at the constantly crimson sky. "Tell me when your done in there. I wanna get outta aquí."

Ryo ignored Viper's attitude and looked at Michio who still had his pipe from school. Ryo still had his as well and they stood on the concrete walkway, staring off into the distance. "You ready?" He asked coolly.

Michio smirked, "Yeah, we should hurry too. Who knows what will happen if we stay in this place for too long."

"Agreed." Ryo replied. And the two set off down the narrow and long walkway expecting anything.

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><p><em>No reviews or new songs...<em>

___ So I have one question for anyone who cares to answer. I had to reformat my computer, and I switched from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice, but I find LibreOffice has a worse spell check function (Like not telling me about double words), so I've been using 's spell check, and something that keeps popping up is "Passive Voice". I've never heard of that before and it was saying that many perfectly good sentences have it. I was just wondering how to fix it that's all. ___


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